The Switch
by llnbooks
Summary: The boys are stuck in an alternate universe in which David's an Outsider and Karl's a skybax rider. That's just the beginning of their problems.
1. Chapter 1

**Plot: **David is an Outsider. Karl is a skybax rider. And that's just the beginning of their problems. What's up with the universe?

**Rating: **T (Teen) for some language (I tried to keep it mild), action, themes, and some flirting (honestly, there's nothing in here worse than anything you'll see on a lot of t.v. series nowadays). There are original characters, but no Mary Sues.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the t.v. characters or the t.v. series. Hallmark does. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. However, the original characters, the band Shō, and all song lyrics herein are my property, so don't use them without my permission. I'm not profiting from this except for the satisfaction of writing.

**Pairings:** A mixed bag of strictly gen pairings. It's mostly the basic t.v. series universe pairings and triangles, with one other pairing that might make you quirk an eyebrow unless you have a sense of humor. No slash or anything like that.

**Heads Up**: I didn't know what to do with this story, so I thought if I posted it at maybe someone would get some enjoyment from it. I hope so anyway. It took me two years of on-again/off-again writing to finish this story. During that time,I haven't read the books, I haven't read any 'Dinotopia' fan fiction, and I've only seen up to the episode "The Big Fight" so that I wouldn't be subconsciously influenced by other 'Dinotopia' works. So, any similarities to any unaired episodes, fan fictions, or the books would be a complete and utter coincidence that would frankly mystify me. (Yaay, at least now that I'm done I can read the other fan fictions out there and watch the rest of the episodes). I'm guessing at some of the spellings and there are probably some gaffs and mistakes I wouldn't have made had I the time and money to read all the books. Please forgive the boo-boos. This is based on the t.v. series, as you've probably figured out, so I had to invent a few things. I have no idea what's up with the characters' accents in this story, either, so don't ask. For some reason, I kept trying to give Alano a British accent and my villain talks like a cartoon character. Go figure. Also, my Outsiders are a bit meaner than the ones on the t.v. show. That's just to make them more menacing. It's a novel-length fiction because that's the kind of fiction I prefer. I sincerely hope someone out there enjoys it, since it's all meant to be in fun.

**DINOTOPIA: "The Switch"**

_by llnbooks _

**1**

The place was a sinkhole.

How anyone could call this island a 'utopia'---no, make that _Dino_topia---was beyond him. Of course, the little 'topians looked happy enough, he mused as he moved through the crowded marketplace of Waterfall City. Why the hell shouldn't they be happy? They didn't know any better. You have to be on the outside of the bars to understand what it means to be inside of a prison. In the case of the 'topians, you had to be on the other side of the meteor-formed Razor Reef (which together with its never-ending thunderstorm destroyed any vessel that crossed its path and made escape from the island nearly impossible) to appreciate all the things you were missing being stranded on Dinotopia.

It had been eight solid months since he'd set foot in the Real World (what the 'topians referred to as 'off-world', for to them the "world" began and ended on their island). That made him the fourth most recent arrival on the island; the newest arrivals, the Scott family, had crashed here two months after him.

His last day in the outside world had ended when the small yacht, his place of employment as a steward to a toe-fungus of a day-trader man, had been sucked into the thunderstorm and cut neatly in half by the Razor Reef. _What a great summer job _that_ had turned out to be_. What had become of his employer, the hangers-on who had joined him on his around-the-world cruise, or the other crewmembers, he didn't know. He'd been trapped below decks, working on keeping the engines going as the storm battered the yacht, when they'd hit the reef. It was only because the ship had been broken in half that he'd escaped at all. As far as he knew, he was the only one who had washed up on the island. Floating in the sea in the raging storm, he wouldn't have been able to spot the lifeboats if they'd been ten feet away. The last bits of the real world he had left were the few water-damaged pictures in his wallet and the Chinese Shō with the interwoven logo of his favorite rock band that was tattooed on the back of his left hand.

Eight months. Eight months of dodging the carnivorous dinosaurs (Dinosaurs. There were freaking _dinosaurs_ on this island!) on a near-daily basis, of living on vegetables on good days and seaweed on bad days, of no television or radio, no sports---in short, nothing of the everyday things he'd taken for granted that had comprised his life in the real world. He was only grateful the Outsiders (as the 'topians referred to the 'rabble' who shared neither their opinion of what a paradise this place was or their tolerance of the scalies-the dinosaurs---that populated the island) had found him before the 'topians did. The outsiders might not have been the most trustworthy bunch of people---_or even the most decent_, he mused, thinking of the subtle but permanent limp he had from a confrontation with a particularly nasty outsider---but at least they weren't going to brainwash him into becoming part of this happy little utopia/prison.

He'd been hidden within a darkened archway. Before stepping out into the streets, he took a cautious look around the marketplace to see if he'd drawn the attention of any of the 'topian shoppers or the saurian guards. No one had given him a second look when he'd emerged from the stairway that descended down to the 'topian temple. Apparently, in the outfit he'd appropriated for this trip into the city, with long sleeves hiding the tattoo on his arm, he looked just like the rest of 'topians. He missed denim jeans, poly-cotton blend shirts, and Nikes. If he were stranded here for fifty years (which would never happen, he'd throw himself off a cliff first), he wouldn't get used to walking around dressed like a medieval peasant. _Not like a peasant, I look like the damn Pirate King in this outfit._

Luckily, the outfit was useful for one thing: With the loose-fitting shirt and coat, no one spotted the small, rounded pendant tucked inside the folds of his coat. If his luck held out, no one would notice the saurian guards he'd left unconscious in the Temple of the Falls either, at least not until he was far away from Waterfall City.

He hadn't been to Waterfall City before, for the Outsiders avoided the 'Topian towns, but he'd memorized maps of the place that his outsider pack had pilfered from one of the 'topian libraries. He'd seen the city only from a distance, when his Outsider pack had passed through the forests that covered the mountains surrounding the city. The place was spectacular; he'd give them that. It was like some alien planet out of the sci-fi books he'd liked to read in his past life, his life before the island. Its stone buildings and bridges had been constructed over and around rivers that ran right through the heart of the city. Outside the city limits, the rivers spilled downwards to form multiple roaring falls that fed the larger river at the base of the cliffs on which Waterfall City stood.

That was the one big problem with Waterfall City: It was too damn _high_. As he moved through the marketplace and crossed bridges, he deliberately averted his gaze from the waterfalls and their drop-offs. Just imagining how far down it was to the valley floor made his stomach churn and his vertigo kick in like a self-preservation alarm reminding him that a long drop usually ended with a sudden stop and a _splat_.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to avoid the dizzying heights of the waterfalls to accomplish the task that had brought him into Waterfall City.

The tallest structure was the tower that housed the city's 'sunstone', the meteorite fragment that didn't bother the non-carnosaur scalies who co-existed with humans, but was like Kyptonite to the predatory dinosaurs outside the city. Its rays were like a protective shield around the city and its boundaries, keeping the carnosaurs at bay. Every city and village on the island had one. The Outsider packs weren't so lucky; they had to fend for themselves against the T-Rex, the Pteranodons, and the other predators, with whatever weapons they could build. Who could blame them for hating the scalies when every day was a fight not to become some dinosaur's dinner?

The 'sanctuary', which he supposed was the 'topian equivalent of a church or temple, was built on the shores of the river at the base of one of the city's waterfalls. He hadn't been able to read the 'topian footprint language to find the sanctuary, but he'd been able to follow the landmarks drawn on the parchment. There had been a covered (thank God) stairway built alongside the falls that had lead down to the sanctuary. The entrance to the stairway had been a small archway marked with one of the 'topian's Sentinels (what he hoped were only _mythical_ half-human, half-dinosaur creatures) carved into its walls. The Sentinel had been easy enough to spot---he'd seen similar ones that were carved into the walls of the canyons where the skybax riders had their base.

Once he'd found the stairway to the temple, descending to the sanctuary below and slipping inside had been easy enough. The Outsiders (he couldn't quite call them 'friends', with one or two exceptions) who had found him months ago had taught the newcomer everything there was to know about which jungle plants would sedate a dinosaur. Survival had depended on such knowledge. Collect the right twigs and leafs, roll them into a bundle, burn the ends, and voila---smoke that would render the saurian guards at the sanctuary gate quite senseless. Another such bundle effectively neutralized the saurian, he supposed 'priestess' was the proper word, inside. The small box, containing the item that had brought him to Waterfall City, had been sitting exactly where the scrolls had said it would be: On the outstretched stone palms of a massive Guardian of the Temple statue.

He could have sworn the Guardian's giant stone eyes were alive and staring right through him as he approached. The sensation of something---supernatural---had given him pause, but only for a few moments. _It's just like a really big garden gnome. It's not alive. It's not watching you. It's standing between you and getting home, so get a grip._

Home. The world had steeled his resolve. He had averted his eyes from the intimidating stare of the statue and reached for the box and the treasure inside...

Now, back on the streets of the city above, the box and its pendant tucked into his coat, he pushed his way past the few odd merchants' booths on the side-street and through the shoppers who'd gathered to pick through their wares. He had to get out of the city before the temple guards snapped out of their stupor. Even with the skills at warding off scalies that he'd learned these past few months, he wasn't a match for an army of saurian guards and a town full of pissed off 'topians.

Distracted, watching for pursuers in the busy marketplace, he moved swiftly down one side-street and nearly collided with a large, round, female Casmasaur. He had to bite his tongue to hold back a very un-Dinotopian curse, but the old dinosaur merely gave him a wide smile and inclined her bulky head slightly in greeting. She said something he couldn't interpret in her native scalie tongue.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," he apologized. His hand automatically felt at his coat pocket, making sure the box hidden there hadn't been dislodged by the impact. The collision had drawn a few looks from shoppers and he had no desire for close scrutiny. He tried to duck past the dinosaur.

She had, apparently, figured out that he didn't speak her language, for she replied in English. "Oh no, pardon _me_, son. On your way back from the sanctuary this morning?" she asked. It wasn't a difficult guess, since the sanctuary was the only destination one could have on that particular street.

"Uh, yeah."

"Ah, splendid. It's good to take time for meditation and reflection. Breathe deep, friend," she approved.

She appeared to be waiting for the proper reply from him. He didn't have the slightest knowledge of 'topian phrases. So he returned the smile, hoping it was convincing, considering the extreme discomfort he was feeling speaking to a scalie. "Um, okay." That left her at a loss for words, if nothing else, and he took the opportunity to make his escape before he attracted any more attention from the ceaselessly cheerful city dwellers, human or dinosaur.

There was still no sign of pursuit, and he was just starting to believe he might get out of the city before the theft was discovered. That was when he spotted the dark shape gliding through the skies above, heading in the direction of Waterfall City. A pterosaur (also called a 'skybax') and its rider…the Dinotopian Boy Scouts…and he could have guessed which flying dino-scout it was even if he hadn't recognized the scalie's distinctive markings. There was only one dino-scout who'd have the uncanny knack for swooping in just in time to screw up what should have been a simple escape from the city.

Concentrating on the approaching skybax, he was unprepared when a woman's authoritative shout shattered the peaceful marketplace: "_Thief_!"

He risked a peek over his shoulder. The crowd parted way for a woman, who was all but flying towards him. Every outsider knew, on sight, everyone in authority among the 'topians. This young woman was Marion Waldo, the daughter of the Mayor of Waterfall City and his wife, Rosemary (the matriarch of Waterfall City). Marion who was the owner of the pendant he'd just appropriated. Marion who would recognize him on the spot. Clearly, she knew the sunstone medallion had been removed from the Temple and just who had removed it. _So much for the disguise._ He ran, but didn't get two steps before she caught him in a flying tackle, her strength fueled by determination and outrage. "_Thief_!"

_Damn she was strong. _The two of them had fallen in a tangle of arms and legs and were wrestling on the stone pavement now…and they were definitely drawing attention. He heard someone shout for the guards. She had pinned him face down on the pavement and was sitting on his back. Under different circumstances, he wouldn't have minded at all, but this situation was going to lead to him being captured before the Council if he didn't do something. He didn't know what they did to thieves---locked them in prison? Fed them to the T-Rexes?---and he wasn't interested in finding out. When she clawed at his coat to reach into the pockets and seize the box containing the sunstone pendant, he reached back, caught her arms, and rolled over so that she had to move or be crushed between his back and the pavement. She moved only for a second. As soon as he was on his back, before he could get to his feet, she pounced. They fought for the container. There was murder in her eyes when they met his own…

…it faded at once, replaced with a look of shock and recognition. Her attack ceased at once. She stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment, but the hostility was gone. He might have shoved her aside and run but for two things: First, she still had him pinned down, in her zeal to reclaim her jewelry and her outrage over the violation of their sanctuary, she paid no mind to the fact that she was now sprawled atop the outsider. Just the touch of her hand as she tried to pry the box containing the meteorite out of his own grasp, sent a jolt like an electrical current through him.

The second was a single word that she uttered with confusion: "David?"

"I thought casmasaurs were supposed to be friendly? How am I supposed to work on the farms with a big chunk gnawed out of my hand!"

"Same way you always do, Jack---with both hands tucked under your head while you sleep all day in the barn."

"Funny, Karl. Go ahead and smirk…you get to be 'of the sky' and have the cool pterosaur to fly around with the rest of the Dinotopian '_Top Gun_' squad, I get to be 'of the earth' and stuck with a baby dinosaur."

Jack Scott had made that complaint so many times in the past six months that his older half-brother simply ignored it. Karl could have told Jack the problem: Too many years watching reruns of '_Jurassic Park_' and Discovery channel specials, plus the rampages of carnosaurs whenever the sunstones failed, had ingrained a deep and abiding fear of all dinosaurs in Jack. The baby casmasaur, Twenty-Six, Rosemary had given Jack as a life partner sensed his loathing and wanted nothing to do with the boy. It wasn't like Rosemary to mismatch a saurian and a human, but in the case of Jack and Twenty-Six, it sure seemed like she'd missed the mark.

_Then again, it's not like her putting me with the skybax corps has turned out to be a bed of roses,_ Karl mused As they stepped out of the house onto the streets of Waterfall City, the sun caught the orange-bronze fabric of his skybax rider uniform. His only pre-Dinotopia flying experience consisted of flying his father's plane (accidentally) into the storm that stranded him and his family there. Flying the pterosaurs wasn't any more fun---they bobbed and weaved like bucking broncos so that he was air-sick after every patrol he flew, the uniforms itched, he couldn't get the smell of dinosaur out of his clothing, his wingmate was forever driving him nuts correcting his flying style or threatening him with bodily harm if he showed up late, and-worst of all---he hardly ever got to spend time with Marion. Karl wouldn't mind babysitting a casmasaur every day if it meant getting to see more of the matriarch's daughter. But, being a rider was an important job---important to the safety of the Dinotopians and to Marion---so Karl did his best. Besdies, if today worked out as he hoped it would, he might be seeing a lot more of Marion…

Karl was wavering between stopping in to visit Marion or heading directly for Canyon City and the skybax riders' base, but his wingmate, Romana Denison, was already outside his door, waiting with her own pterosaur. She angled her head meaningfully towards the sky.

"I know, I know, I'm late." Karl pointed to Jack's bandaged hands. "Blame Dr. Doolittle here."

"What happened to you?" Romana asked Jack.

Jack tried playing up the injury for sympathy. "That psycho dinosaur Rosemary stuck me with, that's what. Damn menace. Tried to feed her and she almost bit my hand off! I'll show you my mangled hand if you've got the stomach."

"It's barely a scratch," Karl added. "I told you she doesn't like vynstl roots."

"Good judge of character, that Twenty-Six," Romana grinned as she climbed onto her skybax.

Jack ignored the barb. He dashed over to Romana's skybax and put his bandaged hand on her saddle. "Hey, Romana, how about giving an injured man a ride to Earth Farm?"

Romana stared down at the dark-haired boy like she was giving serious thought to having her pterosaur step on him. Karl hid his grin. "Have you been studying your saurian language, Jack?" she asked.

"I keep meaning to-have it on my 'to do' list and everything…"

"In that case…" Romana, in fluent saurian dialect, gave the younger Scott a colorful suggestion of what he could ride to the Earth Farm. Karl laughed; Jack blinked, oblivious.

"Was that a 'no'?"

In answer, she gripped his injured hand just enough to elicit a yelp from him and removed it from her saddle. "How can _he_ be your brother?" she asked her wingmate.

"I have no idea."

"Funny, Karl," Jack sulked a bit, until an evil smirk lit his face. "At least _I _ask the girl instead of rehearsing what to ask her in the mirror all day and choking when the girl shows up. Better to strike out than never get up to bat…right, bro?"

Karl was torn between wanting to kick himself for getting caught practicing how to ask Marion to the Dawn Festival and the need to strangle his nosy twerp of a brother for overhearing him mid-practice speech. Jack---only fourteen and already a swaggering, horny little skirt-chaser if ever there was one---had never in his lifetime missed an opportunity to torment his older, less 'romantically successful' brother about girls. Karl knew exactly how and where he wanting to ask Marion. He'd never admit to doing so, but he'd taken a page from Jack's summertime antics at Camp Tehema. Tehema Falls was the 'official unofficial' make-out spot for the teenagers at Camp Tehema. No summer went by without Jack taking another hit-and-run victim up there---or sharing every detail of his conquest with his brother. Karl spent most of those summers reading books in the cabin and fending off some of the Cro-Magnon cretins that preyed on nerds.

Karl had found one of the secluded, beautiful little waterfalls in the forest near Waterfall City. Best of all, the spot, while within the sunstone's protective zone, was secluded enough that he and Marion weren't likely to be disturbed by human or saurian intruders. Maybe he'd ask Marion after he got back from this mission for the corps…

Romana hid her smile as Karl flushed bright red. "You didn't ask Marion to the festival yet?"

Karl didn't reply, but Jack mimed choking in answer for him. Ignoring him, Karl climbed onto Pterra. "Go ahead, Ro, I'll drop the Casanova at Earth Farm. If I don't decide to drop him in a T-Rex nest first." He reached down to give Jack a hand onto the skybax.

Romana frowned, hesitant. "Don't be late. I want to reach the coast before midday."

"I won't," Karl promised. He didn't need to see Jack to know his younger brother was staring daggers at the back of his head. "What?"

"You're going to the coast? That'll take all night. You were supposed to come to the tavern tonight," Jack reminded him. No wonder Karl's saddle pack had looked more full than usual-he'd probably packed enough for an overnight trip and was just going to blow off the family gathering by messenger bird when he reached the coast. It wouldn't be the first time.

"I said I'd try to come to the tavern. Patrol comes first."

Jack wasn't buying that. "You always say that. Why don't you want to see Dad?"

Their father's voice echoed in Karl's memory: _"I used to lay awake all night worrying what that boy was going to do with his life. You wouldn't believe how many clubs, camps, trips, and supplies I paid for trying to keep up with that kid. I tried to get him into tee ball; he wanted to join the chess club. I want him in football; he joins the debate team. Forget Little League or soccer, he wants science camp. Then there was Junior Gleaners, the Decathletes---that's academic, not sports, mind you---the Future Archeologist Club, the Future Weatherman Club. Nothing made Karl happy. I don't know what he wants. I don't think _he_ knows what he wants, but I'm supposed to be able to guess. Now he's convinced himself the skybax corps is going to make him happy. I give it a month at most before he quits…"_

"…he's been real good about not nagging you about the corps lately, hasn't he? I mean, he's trying," Jack was reasoning.

Karl didn't feel like being reasonable…and he for damn sure didn't want to have this argument while on a busy street with his wingmate standing right there. Jack would keep at him unless Karl changed the subject quickly. "Where's your gear? You going to work the crops with your bare hands?"

Jack jumped right off Pterra. "I forgot my pack! I'll be right back!" He dashed back into the house.

Romana sighed, mumbling, "…scut patrols again…Well, he's right about one thing, Karl, your father---"

"Is always going to think I'm a flake or a nerd or whatever. He's had eighteen years, Ro, I think if he were going to get supportive, it would have happened by now."

Romana sighed. "You really are a mule sometimes, Scott." Before he could form a retort, she signaled her skybax, and the pterosaur sprang into the sky. He was left fuming on the street.

A minute passed, and then another. Romana's skybax grew smaller on the horizon until it could no longer be seen. Karl grew impatient. "Jack! Get the lead out!" he shouted at the house.

Jack appeared in the doorway, lugging his pack, which Karl suspected was filled with pillows and snacks instead of farming tools. "Yeah, yeah…I'm coming. Hey, bro, you think Romana'd go out with me? I think she likes me," Jack grinned.

"Yeah that must be it. C'mon, Jack, hurry up!""

"THIEF! Thief at the Sanctuary!"

The alert came from saurian guards as they dashed past the skybax and its rider, heading in the direction of the main river and its waterfall. A crowd of people followed the guards to see what the commotion was about. Jack had to flatten himself against the wall of the house to avoid being trampled by the throng as they rushed down the cobblestone street.

Karl could get to the Sanctuary faster than the guards. "Stay here, Jack!" he ordered, then urged Pterra aloft.


	2. Chapter 2

6

_See part one for explanation and_ _disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

He had tried to blend in by wearing Dinotopian garments, but still the familiar figure in black caught Karl's eye as soon as Pterra reached the marketplace by the falls. The clothes were no disguise for that particular outsider…Karl would have known this guy anywhere. In general, an outsider within the city limits was certainly up to no good, however, some of them managed to outdo themselves-even by outsiders' standards---in causing problems for the peaceful Dinotopians. He'd only been on the island for six months, having arrived courtesy of the squall that took out his father's airplane, but since he'd joined the skybax corps, he was learning fast which outsiders were the worst of the lot. Doris Le Sage and Gabriel Dane were at the top of the list, but the young off-worlder who was emerging from the stairway to the sanctuary below---David Barrett---was number three with a bullet.

Judging by the way the outsider was keeping a discreet hand over his coat pocket and glancing around as casually as possible (for human or saurian guards, most likely), it was a sure bet that he'd just helped himself to something from the sanctuary. As far as the skybax rider knew, there was only one thing in the sanctuary that could possibly interest an outsider. _Maybe the next time I warn Marion about this creep, she'll listen to me._

Karl Scott banked the skybax downwards, flying in the direction of the outsider, at the exact moment Barrett caught the sound of the pterosaur's wings beating and spotted his pursuer. The outsider turned and headed for the crowded marketplace. Karl shook his head. Barrett didn't seriously think he was going to outrun a skybax, did he?

It certainly appeared that way. From the air, it was easy to track the outsider even as he tried blending in with the patrons and passerbys or ducked beneath the canopies of the merchants' booths to try to throw off the skybax rider. "Where does he think he's going, Pterra?" Karl wondered aloud.

His skybax uttered a noise that sounded almost amused in response.

Then something that did _not_ amuse the rider happened---Marion came barreling up the stairs from the sanctuary, glanced around the crowd, and spotted the thief at once. Her face darkened with a look of pure fury and she took off like a shot in Barrett's direction. She caught him almost completely off-guard, body-checking him with such force that both of them tumbled into a pile of baskets and rugs. She proceeded to fight him for the object in his coat pocket, oblivious to the highly compromising position they were in. From the looks of it, Barrett was aware of their situation and didn't mind at all.

Karl minded…very much. He felt his ears flush red, jealousy knotting his stomach. "Go, Pterra," he urged the skybax to find a landing spot, no small task with the crowd that had gathered around Marion and Barrett.

Marion gave him an accusing glare that made David feel uncharacteristically abashed. There was something in her large, dark eyes that almost looked like betrayal. Instinctively, he started to apologize, but stopped himself. _Where did that dumb idea come from?_ Instead, he tried a roguish grin. "Bad time to mention that someone should go to the sanctuary and untie that scalie priestess?"

Marion snapped out of her momentary stupor and made a growl that would have done a T-Rex proud. David had the fleeting thought that, for pure self-preservation, he should drop the box and run for his life, and then she renewed her attack, hellbent on whaling the tar out of him. One sweep of her fists knocked the box out of his hands. It clattered across the cobblestone to rest beneath a pile of overturned baskets.

He had no desire to fight Marion, so he caught both her wrists with his larger hands, trying to push her off of him. "Just for future reference…" he told her "…if you ever get into the ring with Le Sage, my money is definitely on you."

That seemed to tick her off even more. "_You'd_ be the one to know," she spat.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Jealous?"

_That_ sufficiently flustered her. She hesitated just a millisecond, and David scrambled out from under the girl and dove for the box. Marion jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. That made breathing a challenge…which wasn't a good thing. He felt a familiar tightness suddenly squeeze his chest. _Not now_, he silently begged his uncooperative lungs. That was another thing that sucked about this island---not one pharmacy or refill of Primatine anywhere to be found. "Okay, this isn't…fun…anymore," David gasped, trying to stave off the attack by force of will. He didn't bring any of the medicinal leafs he used for these attacks with him. That had been a mistake.

He was trying to figure out a way to (literally) get the girl off his back without hurting her and coming up with nothing. Hoping the movement would dislodge her, David awkwardly made his way on hands and knees towards the box. Marion maintained her grip on his neck. Worse, his fingers were just closing around the box when the elderly woman manning the booth decided to jump into the tussle. The woman began whacking the outsider with one of the baskets. It wasn't an effective weapon, but he dropped the box in surprise. The unexpected blows didn't hurt, but the combination of that, Marion, and the impending asthma attack made him falter and still Marion hung on with all her might.

Meanwhile, the skybax was circling overhead, searching for a clear space to land, and more citizens were gathering around, drawn by Marion's shouts and the cries of the scalie from above. He was going to need help if he didn't want to end up a permanent guest of the 'topinas. He raised two fingers to his lips, did his best to draw a deep breath, and whistled for all he was worth.

"C'mon, people, _move_!" Karl shouted as Pterra circled again in a vain attempt to find a break in the crowd gathered around Marion and that slimeball outsider. The saurian guards were on their way, but from his vantage point, Karl could see they weren't going to get there soon enough to be of help. Marion was more than holding her own against David Barrett, but Karl didn't like the way the guy was looking at his girlfriend…not one little bit.

They were struggling for possession of a small box. Karl knew what it was. What the outsider wanted with Marion's medallion, Karl didn't know and didn't care. He'd had enough of this guy's troublemaking in the last six months to last him two lifetimes. If this incident didn't convince the Council to institute a prison system, Karl didn't know what would.

Karl sighed in frustration, abandoning hope of getting the crowd to move for Pterra. He'd have to land on one of the adjoining streets and make his way to the combatants on foot. He banked Pterra…

…and saw a flash of albino scales and wings as a second skybax glided past, close enough to force Pterra to turn sharply to avoid a collision. Pterra nearly dislodged her rider as she reared up to avoid slamming into the albino dinosaur. The albino skybax went into a steep dive towards the streets below, and let out a cry of unmistakable challenge to Pterra.

"Pterra…_no_!" Karl gripped the saddle for dear life as his skybax arched downwards in pursuit of the albino and began a stomach-churning chase, twisting and turning around the towering buildings of Waterfall City.

At David's prearranged signal, Freefall emerged from his hiding place beneath the bridge. The albino pterosaur rocketed to intercept the skybax rider. Karl Scott's own mount had been close enough that the outsider could enjoy the look of total shock as Freefall caught him unprepared. Better still, Freefall's appearance drew the focus of the crowd from Marion and David to the dogfight---_dino_fight-between the two pterosaurs. Even Marion glanced skyward, her grip on his neck slackening just a bit. That was all David needed---he reached back and pinched her right on the butt, just enough to completely unsettle her. She instantly let go, realized her mistake, and tried to stop herself from sliding off by grabbing at the back of his shirt and coat. Her fingers tangled in a cord around his neck, which snapped. She landed on a stack of rugs. David twisted free and snatched up the box before she knew what was happening.

Marion wasn't watching him anymore. She was staring at the cord in her hand and the small, blue meteorite hanging on it. It was an old amulet, probably dating back to the age when her people lived in the World Below. There were markings in the saurian language on what was left of the meteorite's original gold setting. Part of it was an incantation, a prayer, the rest was only two words: _Tohma Faiere. Faith Stone._

"Where did you get this?" she asked him, eyes wide.

"Hey! That's mine!" David snatched at the meteorite out of her hand. Marion was about to reply, but he finished her thought for her. "And, yes, I'm aware that I'm a hypocrite…"

He was wary of most of the meteorites, but he'd found this one shortly after his arrival on the island, before he knew about some of the nastier powers the space rocks could wield. It was half-buried in the abandoned caves (supposedly used by the 'topians to survive after the meteor impact) near the inner island. He couldn't read the markings, but he'd figured it was just some old piece of 'topian jewelry. He'd originally planned to barter for food or shelter or as a 'get out of jail free' card if the 'topians ever caught up with him, but somehow he never got around to doing so. It never showed one hint of having powers…

…until that moment. The meteorite began to glow as soon as his fingers closed around it. Brilliant blue light radiated, blinding him. No, not just blinding him, David felt like the azure glow was physically invading his senses, overwhelming them. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying to shut out the light, but images began to swim through his mind, inescapable and uncontrollable and bathed in the blue glow. The image was himself, riding on the back of the familiar pale pterosaur as it glided through the skies over the island. They were flying along the coast of the island.

Was this a memory? David and Freefall had flown along the coast many times to avoid the predators of the inner island. But, no, this couldn't be a memory. In the image, David saw himself wearing the orange-bronze jumpsuit and heavy protective gear of an official skybax rider, and David would be dead and in his grave before he'd think of joining the ranks of the dino-scouts. Freefall was the only scalie that the outsider could tolerate. David had saved the albino pterosaur from one of the traps at the hunting grounds favored by the more vicious outsiders, and the two of them had teamed up for mutual survival. The albino had a loner streak that David could respect; Like the outisder, the pterosaur had also refused to be tamed by 'topians. It would never be recruited by the dino-scouts.

_In the vision, David and Freefall---very much in the gear of the dino-scouts---were over the water. Something wasn't right…there was no protective glow of the sunstones' light in the sky. It had to be during the days when the stones had failed, David thought. He and Freefall glided along the coast, both on the alert for carnosaurs, until something on the beach below drew both their attention. Someone was running, and for good reason---a crocodile-like dinosaur emerged from the sea and had designs on making a meal out of whoever that poor soul was. It was a woman, dark-haired, clearly a 'topian. She looked up at the sound of the pterosaur's wings and screamed, "David!"_

_Marion. It was Marion._

_He didn't have to urge Freefall down; the albino was already landing on the sand, placing itself between the future matriarch and the super-sized crocodile/monster. David leaped from the pterosaur's back and ran for Marion. Freefall beat his massive wings at the crocodile, driving it away from the humans as they ran. David looked back in time to see the croc's large teeth clamp down on one of the pterosaur's wings----_

David dropped the stone. The blue vision ceased as though he'd awakened from a dream. It _had_ to be a dream or a hallucination, some 'topian method of brainwashing people into thinking they were 'topians too…it for damn sure wasn't a memory. He didn't take a chance on the meteor screwing with his mind again. He used the corner of his coat to pick up the rock, grabbed the box containing the sunstone medallion, and then he was on his feet and running.

Marion called after him, "David, wait!"

Not far away, the saurian guards roared in their scalie-speak dialect. He didn't speak saurian, but that didn't matter. '_Stop thief'_ and '_Hold it right there, scumbag'_ was understandable in any language. David ignored them. He glanced up, searching for the albino dinosaur. When Freefall appeared, skimming just inches above the river that ran through the center of the city, the Super Skybax Cop was on his tail. David whistled again, "Freefall!"

Smoothly, the pale dinosaur banked away from his pursuer and veered towards David. Freefall's massive head turned toward the outsider. His massive eye glared at the outsider and then the albino pterosaur blew right past him, leaving David standing dumbly in the middle of the street. He gaped in disbelief. "Where are you going!"

As Freefall streaked away, he made a scolding noise. _That_ saurian command David knew quite well. "Are you _kidding_ me with that! _Now_!"

Freefall huffed as he Pied Pipered the dino-scout around for another pass through the city, casual as if he had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, half the population of Waterfall City was rapidly closing in on David. He shouted a curse that he hoped his pterosaur could hear and ran back to the marketplace. "I'm trying to make a getaway and he wants me to shop…" David found the booth he wanted and skidded to a stop. The man behind the stand was torn between watching the skybax chase scene and the spectacle of the guards closing in one the outsider. "Ganja fruit please."

The shopkeeper obligingly produced a bag of the purple, apple-size fruit. David patted his pockets and remembered that he didn't have any money (thus his frequent need to appropriate such goods alternate means). "Um, can I owe you?" he asked meekly.

The man nodded, the picture of trust. "Of course, friend. Breathe deep."

David snatched up the bag. "Yeah, back at ya."

He ran for one of the bridges so that, as Freefall approached, the pterosaur could clearly see the bag with his favorite snack in David's hands. The pterosaur gave an approving growl and, in a burst of speed, rocketed away from Scott's own mount to rendezvous with David on that bridge.

David almost made it…until a figure appeared on the bridge, blocking his path. The 'topian boy gawkishly spread his arms and tried to look intimidating, despite the fact that he was a head shorter and twenty pounds lighter than the outsider. If the outsider wasn't working his way into a bad mood at the moment, he'd have found it comical. "Stop right there! You're not getting past me."

David didn't so much as break his stride. "I'm not in the mood, Scott."

Jack Scott, younger brother of the meddlesome skybax rider Karl Scott, attempted a glare. "I'm serious, Barrett. Don't make me…"

David was close enough now to reach out with one hand and push the younger Scott aside. This, in turn, sent the smaller man right over the stone bridge and into the river a few feet below. Scott popped to the surface almost immediately, spitting water and shouting for help to the skybax rider above.

Freefall landed on the bridge. David climbed onto his back. As soon as David had a grip on the reins, Freefall took off. The outsider glanced over his shoulder and saw Scott break off his pursuit of David and Freefall to head for the figure bobbing in the river. There were several dots on the horizon behind them, more skybax riders coming too late to prevent his escape. Satisfied that he was no longer in danger of being caught, David finally let himself relax a bit.

"Does the word 'blackmail' mean anything to you!" he asked the pterosaur.


	3. Chapter 3

9

_See part one for explanation and_ _disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _ Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**2**

As soon as Jack hit the water, Karl muttered an oath. Abandoning the chase, knowing that the albino pterosaur and its rider would be long gone by the time he fished Jack out of the water, he landed Pterra near the river. He debated with himself whether outsider thieves or well-meaning, but hopelessly nerdy, younger brothers caused him more headaches. Karl found Marion among the small knot of shoppers who had come to the rescue of the yelling, sopping wet Jack. Jack was clinging to one of the poles where the smaller boats tied on when they stopped in the city.

Marion was trying to coax him into letting go with one hand so she could help him climb over the stone wall of the canal to the safety of the street, but Jack wasn't having it. The plane crash and swim through the turbulent waters near the Razor Reef had instilled an utter terror of the water in Karl's half-brother. Marion gave Karl a look as he joined her on the bank, and Karl shook his head. Leaning over the wall, he extended a hand to the figure clinging to the pole and joked, "Nice stand, Custer. Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

Jack dared to turn his head just enough to see his brother. "Karl? Did he get away?"

"Yep. Give me your hand," Karl ordered. He kept the rebuke out of his tone, since Jack looked sufficiently humiliated. Jack reluctantly let go of the pole with one hand and reached for Karl's outstretched hand. With the help of Marion and several passerbys, Karl hoisted the dripping form from the canal.

"Sorry, Karl, Marion," Jack apologized.

Marion patted his shoulder. "You're not to blame for the outsider's escape, Jack."

"And speaking of which, would someone mind telling me how that guy got himself a pet pterosaur!" Karl directed the question at Marion. "I thought pterosaurs only flew for trained riders?" What he meant, of course, was for well-trained _Dinotopian_ skybax riders.

She said simply, "No one holds ownership over a pterosaur or any other saurian. You of all people know that. Saurians choose or reject their own human life partners---even if it's an Outsider, I suppose. Though I'm surprised an Outsider would accept a saurian partner given their opinion of the dinosaur population"

"I'm surprised a saurian would fly with a saurian hunter," Karl added.

Marion's face fell a bit. "You shouldn't make accusations like that when you can't be sure of yourself, Karl," she said defensively.

"Come _on_, Marion---why do you stick up for him!"

Not for the first time, she wished that she'd been the one to find David when the off-worlder had first become marooned on the island. If the outsiders hadn't got to him first, there was a chance she could have prevented him from being poisoned against the island and its way of life…

_As Marion had rowed the tiny boat back to the beach, she'd been focused on only one goal: Getting back to Waterfall City before sunset. There was a slim hope of survival within the city. If the predators caught her out here, in the forest, she was as good as dead. Already, the absence of the sunstones' glow was becoming painfully noticeable against the darkening sky. The cries of carnosaurs---T-Rex, velociraptor, pteranodon, and other horrors Marion didn't want to imagine---were still a ways off, but were getting closer with each passing hour. Things were about to get bad…very bad. She stared down into the water of the bay, but there was no sign of the submarine that had just sank into its depths. If Karl, Jack, and Cyrus didn't find working sunstones in the underwater caverns soon, it would be unthinkable. The human population of Dinotopia would never survive it. She'd done all she could do to help, providing the power source for the submersible. It was up to her friends now. They would succeed, she promised herself. They had to succeed. If they didn't, then her place was with her family in the city, defending her home against the coming onslaught of predators, helping as many people as she could until the end..._

_Distracted, and with her back to the shore, she failed to see the figures deployed along the length of the beach until it was too late. They were, without question, Outsiders. Worse, they were quite clearly waiting for her. She knew a few of them on sight---Doris Le Sage, an ambitious woman at best, stood beside Quantro, a filthy, ridiculous little hanger-on. A dark-skinned, muscular man Marion knew to be a skilled dinosaur hunter named Payden. Not far from them was a lanky white-haired man with a cigarette clenched between his stained (and in some places missing) teeth whom Marion would have known anywhere. He was their pack's leader, another hunter who murdered dinosaurs without discriminating friendly saurians from predators. He was the only pack leader who armed his followers against all conventions and beliefs of the Dinotopians. The knowledge of the atrocities Gabriel Dane had committed was repugnant to the matriarch's daughter. _

_Marion had never wanted to meet him in person, but she had no choice now. He was already moving to intercept the craft and there was no place else to land unless she wanted to row miles up the coastline in the fading light. There were at least two-dozen of them, so she doubted she could outrun the whole lot. Her only chance was to assert her authority and attempt to reason with the group, make them aware of the peril they were facing. _

_She spoke before Gabriel Dane could even open his mouth. "What's the matter with you all? Do you see the sky? Do you know what's happening?" _

_Marion took in the scene, searching for a gap in the ranks of his pack, for someone who might be reasoned with. Their attention was on their leader and the 'topian girl…all but one. Marion sensed something---different---about the young man who stood a distance from the rest of the pack. He was perhaps the youngest of their group, curly-haired, blue eyes (insanely, that seemed wrong to Marion), one of them marred by rapidly swelling bruises. As she took a longer look, she saw that he was imperceptibly holding his ribs. There was a split in his lip and a cut over his eyebrow that was going to scar. There was no pain betrayed in the young man's stance or in those eyes. _

_Then she knew what was different. She saw the tattoo on the back of his hand, the hand that was gingerly holding his ribcage. It wasn't the picture that drew her interest, she was used to seeing the occasional tattoos on Outsiders; it was the date that had been woven into the design of the artwork. It was hard to make out at the distance she stood from him, but it appeared to read: "_Shō Y2K-The End of Civilization Tour_". Karl had told her that 'Y2K' was an abbreviation the off-worlders used when their calendars changed to the year 2000. According to the off-worlders' calendars, this year was 2003. He was an off-worlder…and a new arrival to the island at that. That's what was different about him. The Outsiders must have found him before the Dinotopians, or else he---like Karl and his family---would have been directed to the Council and educated in the peaceful ways of the island. _

_She tried to reach him_, _tried to brush past the pack leader, but Dane caught her by the arm and jerked her back to stand in front of him. He was smirking, breathing his rancid breath and smoke in her face. Her fear was not reflected in her steady voice, but Dane saw it in her eyes._ _"I was trying to get to the ginka plant…it will help with the swelling." She indicated his battered friend. "You should be thinking of your injured. The carnosaurs will pick them off first…"_

"_Survival of the fittest, girl," Dane answered coldly. She saw, then, that Dane's knuckle was split and bleeding, leaving no doubt just who had provided the off-worlder's injuries. _

"_Do you know who I am?" That earned a round of laughter at her expense from everyone but the off-worlder. He was staring at Marion with such intensity that she was suddenly self-conscious. He was watching her, but, unlike his friends, who gave Dane their full attention, she knew he was also listening to her…knew it. Marion spoke to Dane, but directed her message to the off-worlder now and prayed she would at least get through to him. "You should be taking cover, all of you. You need---"_

_She saw the young man's eyes flicked skyward, just for a moment. _

_Dane grabbed her face with his strong fingers and squeezed hard enough to leave bruises. "What I need, you're much too frail a fawn to give me, girl." The pack snickered at that. Marion glanced to the off-worlder, hoping for help._

_He was gone._

"_What was that boat we saw?" Dane's free hand gestured in the direction the submarine had gone. "Perhaps you scalie-lovers hide a way off this island from us?" His grip tightened so that Marion couldn't have answered if she'd wanted to._

"_Forget the girl, Gabriel. She's right. Look at the sky." This remark came from Payden. "We need to get to safety. I know a place not far from here---"_

_Dane released Marion's face, but held fast to her arm. "A boat like that can go beneath the Razor Reef. We will be free of this island. That is the only safe place to go, yes? I think, for her, they would trade us that shiny boat."_

"_You're an idiot." The unexpected sting came from Le Sage, who made her the center of attention now. Dane whirled on her, glaring, but the woman glared back at him, eye-to-eye. "The boat's gone…and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going, too." She waved for those willing among Dane's pack to follow her into the forest, in the opposite direction from the din of approaching predators._

"_Le Sage!" Faced with a mutiny, Dane shoved Marion towards the nearest member of his pack without looking. Arms came around Marion from behind, holding fast…but not brutally. One hand touched her elbow, holding lightly. Another hand settled over her mouth, not quite touching her lips. She caught a glimpse of ink on the back of that hand._

"_Back towards the forest. Don't take your eyes off the pack." Marion didn't have to look over her shoulder to know the off-worlder was behind her._

_A burly blonde man appeared at their sides, speaking to the off-worlder, also backing towards the forest with them. "I'm so sorry, mate…I should have done something. I'll have your back next time, my word on that." The blonde sounded ashamed._

"_S'okay, Al, it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done," the off-worlder answered quietly._

"_You shouldn't have gone and pissed him off like that," the blonde added. "Why did you do that?"_

_The off-worlder hesitated. "The damn thing introduced itself."_

_He had Marion's full attention now. _

_His friend, 'Al', sounded dubious at best. "He what?"_

"_I heard it in my head. It said its name was Freefall. What was I supposed to do?"_

_Marion listened attentively. "You make an empathic connection to a Saurian?" she asked, muffled by the hand covering her mouth. That was extraordinary. If he could sense the thoughts of a skybax, then this off-worlder was of the Sky. He belonged with the Dinotopians…_

_Al ignored the question. "Stay out of Dane's way. That's what you should've done, you idiot. You should've stuck the critter and made Dane happy, not set the thing free. It was just a damn scalie---no scalie's worth your life!" _

"_I beg your pardon!" Marion disagreed._

_Al and David still paid her no mind. They were concentrating on Dane, who was too preoccupied with Le Sage to notice the trio making a break for the forest. "I'll take the girl, David, you need to go before Dane turns his attention back to you." _

_David, however, made no move to escape. He guided Marion up the slope that lead away from the beach and into the edge of the forest. They almost made it before something happened that made the off-worlder stop in his tracks. On the beach, Le Sage had turned her back to Dane, and the pack leader had drawn his dagger. David shouted a warning, "Doris!"_

_Smoothly, Le Sage spun and kicked the blade right out of Dane's hand. Her next move was slamming her fist into his face. Dane dropped, blood spurting from his nose. Le Sage inclined her head in thanks to David. There was something very---intimate---in the way she smiled at the off-worlder before she led the rest off the pack down the beach. Marion felt a strange pang of jealousy seeing that look._

_On his knees, clutching his nose, Dane turned and scanned the beach until he saw the fleeing trio. "Barrett!"_

_Al swore, "Damn…run!" He took Marion's other arm, and, together, he and David dragged her into the forest. _

_They ran, spurred by the sounds of Dane's shouts, which soon grew faint behind them. When his cries ceased altogether, the outsiders finally stopped. Marion sat in the grass, winded, listening to the roar of carnosaurs and watching her rescuers. Al paced, not showing the least exertion. David leaned against a tree, working hard to catch his breath, which was coming in ragged gasps that alarmed Marion. She remembered David had been holding his ribs before and wondered if his injuries were more than bruises. "Are you all right?" Marion moved to stand._

_David waved her off. "I'm…fine," he lied. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a green leaf that he'd learned about from the pack during one of Dane and Payden's only useful botany lessons. The leaf tasted like mint and worked almost as well as off-world inhalers in warding off asthma attacks. _

"_How long have you been on the island?" Marion asked him._

_David coughed and managed a deep breath. "Too long."_

"_Is your family here?" she wanted to know._

"_You just met my family. How do you like them?" David joked._

_Marion wasn't kidding. "I meant your real family." She regretted the question at once. Sadness flashed in his blue eyes for the first time...and something else she tried to put her finger on._

_Loneliness._

"_You're alone aren't you?" she asked._

"_We _are_ his real family, girlie." Al's words brooked no argument. He watched the darkening sky as he waited for his friend to recover from his asthma attack. "You know the way back to the city, right?" he asked Marion._

"_Of course."_

"_Good." David cut in. "Don't take this the wrong way, but don't come back. Dane's no one to screw with." He glanced at the trail and the trees around them, getting his bearings. Then he headed for a trail that led in the opposite direction from Waterfall City._

_Marion took a step after him. "Are you crazy? That path will take you right into carnosaur territory. You should come back to the city with me."_

_David paused, "Lady---"_

"_Marion," she introduced herself._

"_Marion…this whole island's about to become carnosaur territory. Do us a favor---go fix your sunstones." David turned to Al. Some unspoken communication passed between them: David arched an eyebrow and the blonde sighed._

"_You're a bloody nut. You can't outrun him in your condition," Al said._

_David didn't deny it. "Just make sure Dane follows me, bro, then get the hell out of here as fast as you can."_

"_Yeah…no problem there."_

_David gave the matriarch's daughter a mock salute good-bye. "Nice to meet you…Marion."_

"He's one of Gabriel Dane's pack! Dane murders dinosaurs just for kicks," Karl was ranting a bit.

Jack groaned, "Here we go again…" He found a bench and made himself comfortable. He knew what Karl would say next, and said the words right along with him. "…Barrett's with Dane's pack, then Barrett's a hunter, too."

"You think this is funny?" Karl asked his brother.

Jack scratched his head. The truth was that there were few people in the world who got under his brother's skin the way that outsider did, and just about everyone on the island knew it. If Jack weren't sick to death of listening to Karl's tirades every time Barrett snagged food from Earth Farm or supplies from the marketplaces of the island or medallions from the sanctuary, watching his normally ultra-cool brother get bugged to distraction by the outsider's antics would have been great fun. "Yeah, a little," Jack admitted.

Karl took his first real look at Marion then. Her usually immaculate hair had been pulled loose from its braid in the scuffle with Barrett. Her clothes were a wrinkled, rumpled mess and her eyes were still blazing. It would have been quite sexy, he thought, that disheveled and fiery look, if the memory of how she'd got that way wasn't making him ill. "One good thing---on that albino of his, Barrett should be real easy to spot. What about you? You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, but we have a problem."

"Don't worry, I'll get your medallion back," Karl promised.

"What's he gonna do with that sunstone anyway?" Jack wanted to know. "It's not good for anything. No offense, Marion."

The matriarch's daughter agreed, "You're right, Jack."

"I am?"

Karl blinked. "He is?"

"The only reason to take it would be to upset our people," she said.

"Barrett never _needs_ another reason besides upsetting us," Karl grumbled.

Marion shook her head. "But that's not the problem I meant…not the only problem, at least." Mindful that there was still a crowd around them, Marion linked her arms through theirs and guided them away. What she had to say wasn't for public knowledge, not until she spoke to her parents and the Keeper of the Temple. "You must keep this confidential---I mean it, Jack. The outsider had a piece of meteorite, a very old piece. It had a gold setting and the inscription---I think it was a Tohma Faiere. Fortunately, I don't think he knew what it was. He probably can't read the footprint language."

Jack stared blankly. "A what?"

"It means 'faith stone', Jack. Would it kill you to _try_ and learn _something_ about Dinotopian language and history?" Karl snapped. He had started reading all he could about the island, its history, its language, and its artifacts from the first night he and his brother had come to Waterfall City. Conversely, Jack simply wasn't interested, despite the best efforts of everyone to involve him in the activities of the island and make him feel at home. _The only thing I want to learn about his island, bro, is how to get the hell off of it,_ was Jack's attitude. _No wonder Twenty-Six wanted nothing to do with him_, Karl thought.

"Well, what is it, if you're so smart?" Jack challenged, defensive.

Naturally, Karl was drawing a blank. "It's---uh---it's an old prayer stone. Right?"

"It's more than that, Karl," Marion said. Jack smirked at his brother. "Our ancestors believed they yielded enlightenment."

Jack snorted, "Why don't any of your space rocks ever yield stacks of gold bars? Or maybe zap you off the island and back to the real world? Like on 'Star Trek'---"

"Jack!" Karl barked.

"Well, why bother with a rock if it can't make you rich?" Jack pouted. "Not like a prayer rock is valuable like a sunstone or that rock that made the T-Rexes go gonzo."

"You think enlightenment isn't valuable? Wait, look who I'm asking…"

Marion interrupted before the brothers could launch into another full-blown argument. There wasn't time for their bickering, not with David Barrett, the faith stone, and her medallion getting farther away each minute. "Its powers aren't strictly 'enlightenment'."

Jack went pale. "I knew it---that space rock does something freaky, doesn't it? They always do something freaky…"

Karl swatted him lightly across the head. "Will you calm down?" He frowned at Marion. "Er, _does_ that space rock do something freaky?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, good…" Karl sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

8

_See part one for explanation and_ _disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**3**

It was a strategy David had heard once on an old t.v. show: People hunting for something, or some_one_, never looked in places right under their noses. Of course, at the moment, David couldn't remember how well that plan had worked for the guys on that old t.v. show, but a nagging voice in the back of his mind said, _Not too well._ Still, it made a certain amount of sense that the best place to hide from, for instance, a flying dino-scout, was the last place Karl Scott would expect Barrett to show up---the tavern belonging to Scott's father. The skybax rider would be flying all over the place looking for David until at least sunset, so he shouldn't turn up at his father's place for a few hours yet. At least, that's what David was counting on.

Scott's Tavern was one of the few places Doris Le Sage had given her blessing to as fulfilling the less 'topian kinds of entertainment that the outsiders favored---in other words, a place where one could enjoy a real drink, a game of cards, and other recreations (except perhaps, David thought wistfully, a non-vegetarian meal, which simply wasn't too be had on this rotten island). The place was as close to an off-world tavern as you could get on Dinotopia. But, the ambiance was of secondary importance to David at the moment---the main thing was that he knew the tavern's owner to be a man of discretion. The unspoken agreement was that, so long as their activities posed no danger to him or his sons, Frank Scott was content to live and let live where the outsiders were concerned. They were, after all, some of his best customers, and he was adamant that they be welcome in his establishment. If they got too rowdy, which could happen, especially on days were there was no _real_ alcohol available, they learned quickly that the salt-and-pepper haired owner could toss a man twice his size and half his age out the door without breaking a sweat.

It was early afternoon now, and the tavern hummed with activity as the 'topians who worked the nearby farms reluctantly mingled with whatever outsiders were in the area that day. There wasn't much of a 'night life' on the island, at least not out here, in the forests at the edge of the sunstones' reach. Dangerous things---human and reptilian alike---lurked in the dark, so the islanders tended to stay close to home after sunset. As he walked into the tavern, David did a quick survey of the patrons. There were a few outsiders---and more than a few 'topians---he'd rather not run into. A single glance told him all he needed to know: There was no one present who was trying to kill or arrest him at the moment…and Alano was late.

David cursed under his breath. He might have a head start on Karl Scott and the dino patrol, but it wasn't going to last indefinitely. Even if Scott didn't show up, Marion would be sending out messenger birds soon to tell all the nearby villages to be on the lookout for the thief. Alano was reliable, but had the disadvantage of growing up on an island that had no clocks and, therefore, no sense of time---at least, not unless it was measured in days, weeks, or seasons. Consequently, Alano had never been "on time" (in the off-worlder sense of the word) for one of these meetings in the eight months David had known the outsider. David would have to wait.

He found an empty table in a poorly lit corner of the tavern. From that vantage point, he could see out the window by passerbys would not be able to look inside and see him. Plus, he was halfway from both the front and back doors of the pub in case he needed to make a quick escape. None of the patrons gave David a second look, so clearly the word about the theft hadn't spread this far from Waterfall City…yet.

Preoccupied with wondering what had delayed Alano and how much time he had before Scott or a messenger bird flitted in, David nearly jumped out of his skin when a drink suddenly slid across the table to rest squarely at his fingertips and a gravelly voice greeted him: "Hey, stranger, been so long I thought a T-Rex finally got you." Not waiting for an invitation, Frank Scott seated himself in the chair on the opposite side of the small table.

It was on David's lips to ask the tavern owner to give him privacy, but he reconsidered. As long as Frank was there, David could be sure no one-'topian or outsider---was giving him the news about the pilfered sunstone currently tucked into David's coat pocket. Besides, Frank was one of a very few 'topians that David actually liked. Like everyone else on the island, he knew the story of the Scotts: Frank and his sons, Karl and Jack, had 'arrived' on Dinotopia courtesy of a plane crash only a few months after David had been shipwrecked. Frank had been trapped in the plane as it hit the bottom of the ocean, surviving only by managing to cut himself out of his jammed seatbelt and finding one of the underwater caves used by the 'topians during their time in the World Below. He'd been down there two months before his sons found him. In the interim, Karl and Jack had been 'brainwashed' (as David called it) into adopting the 'topian ways-Karl joined the skybax corps, Jack was assigned to the Earth Farms. Frank, like David, retained his love for all things 'off-worlder", including a drink, a friendly wager, a game of cards, sports, and non-vegetarian food.

"They'd never eat me. I'd give them indigestion for a month," David answered. He gestured to the drink Frank had given him. "I'll have to owe you for that."

"And the news would be?" Frank joked. The outsider made a rude gesture, and the older man chuckled. "S'okay, that one's on the house."

"Frank---" David argued.

"No, I insist. 'Course I'll charge you double for your next drink. Besides, I'm curious to see what you think of it. It's an 'off-worlder special'."

Puzzled, David took a swallow of the bubbling liquid. The stuff tasted vaguely familiar---and then, suddenly, he realized why. "Is this actually Coke?"

Frank beamed.

"Where did you get this?"

"Karl found a man in Waterfall City who salvaged fifty cases of the stuff washed up from a shipwreck last month. I got the whole lot. Had to hide a few cases from the boys for my customers who appreciate this stuff."

David was torn between the desire to down the rest of the beverage in one gulp and wanted to drink as slowly as possible to make it last. Impulse won out, and he finished the drink in two swallows. "Never though I'd taste this stuff again. Too bad some fries and a burger couldn't have washed up with it. I miss real food." He'd eaten enough pasta and vegetables in the past eight months to last him two lifetimes.

"Should've come by last month," Frank told him with an evil grin.

"No way…" David winced. "Ouch, that hurts."

Still chuckling, Frank reached into his pocket and produced a deck of cards. "Anyway, how about a chance to recoup my losses from our last game?"

"Has your poker game gotten any better since last time?" David jabbed.

Frank shook a warning finger at the younger man. "That's enough, you. I've got your tells down now, you just wait and see. Though it beats me how a kid with no ability to bluff could be such a damn card sharp…"

He passed the deck to David, who leaned forward to pick up the cards. His own blue meteorite pendant slipped from beneath his shirt. Frank didn't even spare the stone a glance; he already knew about the outsider's 'good luck charm'. David didn't want anyone else to know about it, especially not the 'topian customers if they would get as worked up about the space rock as Marion had. He grabbed the pendant and shoved it back beneath his shirt…

…Blue light filled him senses, and images again swam through his mind.

_David was in an arena that resembled an off-world boxing ring. His hands were wrapped in puffy gloves that looked enough like boxing gloves. There was a crowd---outsiders and 'topians---seated around the area, chanting and cheering. Their words were muddled by the deafening sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. Standing in the opposite corner of the arena, also clad in boxing gear, was Alano. Doris Le Sage stood in his corner, whispering something to the hulking outsider._

_A hand patted David's shoulder encouragingly. "How are you doing?"_

_David turned to find Frank Scott standing in his corner. Karl Scott was nearby. Marion and her mother, Rosemary, were seated among the crowd of 'topians. They were watching David---in fact, every 'topian in the audience was watching him. They almost seemed to be cheering for him. The outsiders were shouting to Alano. Le Sage raised her arms, egging her people on, and an even louder roar for their champion went up from the outsiders. Alano was the picture of concentration, waiting for the bell, preparing to pound David into dust._

"_I think I'm going to throw up," David heard himself answer._

_Frank grinned and squeezed his shoulder. "That's my boy."_

David let go of the meteorite, the words echoing in his mind until he willed them to stop. Frank still sat there, waiting for David to deal the cards. There wasn't the slightest indication that the older man or anyone else in the tavern had seen what he had just witnessed. _Hallucination. Just has to be a hallucination_, David rationalized. "…been hiding yourself since---what's it been? Three weeks ago?" Frank was asking.

"Uh…" The outsider shook off the hallucinations. "Here and there. The coast mostly. Zuru. Gull's Bay."

Frank's eyes narrowed, staring at him with sudden concern. "Not planning any boat trips out to the Razor Reef are you?" he asked seriously. He saw the younger man flinch, just for an instant, at the question. David faltered for only that second, then recovered.

"Relax, Frank, I'm just trying to keep my distance from the carnies and the flying Boy Scouts." As an afterthought, David added, "No offense."

Frank waved off the jab at the skybax riders. Whatever Richard Kimble/Detective Gerard thing the outsider and Karl had going was between them (it was even amusing at times for Frank to watch). Scott was more concerned that the outsider had been visiting Zuru for the same reason Frank and Jack had gone there during the carnivore rampage: It was the only place on the island where there was even a meager hope of crossing the Razor Reef by boat.

"The Razor Reef is nothing to screw with, kid," Frank cautioned. It still terrified Frank how close he'd come to getting himself and Jack killed in their attempt to cross the reef. In his desperation to get off the island, he had taken a rowboat out---not even having the wits to bring food or water or other provisions---and the squall had dashed the flimsy craft to pieces, almost drowning both of them. Karl, who had refused to leave the island, had to come to their rescue. The whole incident had forced Frank to accept that, for the foreseeable future, he was stuck on this island and the fight over whether to attempt the crossing had done nothing to help Frank's strained relationship with Karl.

"Jesus, Frank, forget I mentioned it if you're going to beat it to death!" He liked the off-worlder well enough, but the man had a habit of getting paternal with him that made David bristle a bit. He'd had enough surrogate fathers back in the States with his mom's succession of boyfriends, he sure wasn't interested in having another one here on the island.

There was a moment of tense silence before Frank gave the slightest nod and let the subject drop. The kid brought out the fatherly instincts in him, probably because David was only a few months older than Karl and was a displaced off-worlder just like the Scotts, but Frank had learned that David wouldn't put up with parenting from him.

David began dealing the cards. "Okay, jacks are wild, no limit on wages."

"Just keep those hands where I can see them so I can be sure you're not hiding anything up your sleeve."

"Whatever you say, Frank."

The saurian Keeper, Noree, was pacing the length of the sanctuary when Marion, Karl, Romana, and Jack arrived. Her tail swished, betraying the dinosaur's agitation. Noree rushed to greet the matriarch's daughter as soon as Marion stepped into the temple. "Thank the ancestors! Were you able to retrieve your medallion, child?" Noree clasped the human's hands with her own clawed fingers.

"I'm afraid not."

The Keeper was crestfallen. "Oh, dear…I'm so sorry. This is my fault."

Marion smiled. "The outsiders are tricky, Noree, you had no way to be prepared. Even I didn't think David was capable of---well, he's evidently learned some tricks during his time with Le Sage."

Karl was still fuming. "Never underestimate an outsider."

"I'll never understand their capacity for deceit," the saurian agreed.

"Tell her about the freaky space rock," Jack suggested.

"I'll handle this, Jack." Marion motioned for the Keeper to sit on one of the benches. "Noree, I have a question…It's going to sound quite mad…"

"Nonsense. You can ask me anything you wish, my dear."

"When I was trying to get my medallion back," Marion began, "I noticed a meteorite, a very small one…David had it on a cord around his neck…"

"A sunstone?" Noree gasped.

Marion shook her head. "No, definitely not a sunstone. It looked very old…ancient in fact. Possibly from her ancestors' days Below. It had a gold setting, but most of it was broken away. There were inscriptions in footprint language on the metal."

Noree bounced a bit, intrigued. Ancient artifacts were her particular field of interest. Most of Waterfall City's wealth of objects from the World Below were in her care, safely stored in the sanctuary she kept. "Could you read it?"

"I could…but I'm not sure I read it correctly. It said, '_Tohma Faiere'_. The full inscription was '_anghara pha…'._ "

Noree swiftly covered Marion's mouth with one paw. "_You must not say the prayer_!" The Keeper removed her hand only when she was sure the human woman understood. "Did you read the inscription aloud? This is important, child." The dinosaur's fear was telegraphed to the humans. Jack watched in dread of what answers were coming; Karl folded his arms across his chest and listened attentively.

"No. I only touched it for a moment. I barely had time to see it."

"Did the outsider say the prayer aloud?" Noree questioned.

"I don't think he can read footprint language. In fact, I don't think he knew what the stone was. He probably has it to trade for food or something."

The Keeper persisted. "You must be very sure."

"I seriously doubt he's the kind of guy who prays to a rock," Karl put in.

"I'm sure," Marion said.

Noree stood, resuming her pacing. "Are you? Did you see the outsider touch the faith stone itself?"

Marion replayed the scene in her mind. "Yes, I was trying to get the stone away from him, but he was too strong."

The Keeper braced herself for the answer to her next question. "Did the faith stone glow when he touched it? It would have been hard to tell if you were not looking directly at the meteorite…"

Marion answered immediately. "Yes. I thought it was reflecting the sun."

The Keeper growled deep in her throat, tail swishing wide sweeps now. Jack stared, wide-eyed. "What? Glowing is bad? Wait, what am I saying? Glowing mystery rocks are _always_ bad…"

All three humans watched Noree with growing concern. "It's not possible for that stone to have been a faith stone. Is it? The Tohma Faieres are a myth," Marion asked.

"Myth?" Reptilian eyes stared into the human's own eyes. "No, child, the Tohma Faieres are quite real. If it glowed for him, that means---" Noree composed herself with visible effort. The silence became oppressive. The women-human and saurian alike---were lost in their own troubled thoughts.

Finally, Jack could take no more. "_What_ does it mean?"

"Tohma Faiere would only glow for someone who's used its powers…by reading the prayer inscribed on its gold setting," Noree explained. "It's very bad indeed."

Karl stepped in front of the Keeper to halt her pacing. "_Please_ stop that. You said the inscription was a prayer-I don't get how a prayer could be dangerous."

Jack snorted, "You ever read the Old Testament, bro?"

"They're dangerous because---if you believe in the legend-it has the power to grant wishes…"

"Like a genie rock? Cool!" Jack grinned.

"…However, if you made the right-or rather, the _wrong_---wish, the stone could conceivably alter what we know as reality and no one would know it, not even the person who made the prayer," Marion filled in the off-worlders.

"That's why the stones were deliberately lost. According to our texts, one of the ancients stole the Tohma Faieres and attempted to use them to erase the existence of the saurian population. It was fortunate, for myself and the rest of the saurians, that they didn't do more damage. The perpetrators were unaware of the physical consequences of using the faith stone: Only the person who uses the stone remembers or is permanently affected by its spells. When the spell was undone, the carnosaurs were restored to us and the rest of the islanders had no memory of what the ch'kra had done. We only found out because one of them confessed his deeds. After that, the Tohma Faieres were buried in caverns at the heart of the island, so far within carnosaur territory that no one would even consider trying to find them," Noree explained.

"Wasn't that the same thing you guys tried with that green meteorite? Until Quantro and his outsider pack found it anyway and made the carnosaurs go nuts?" Jack pointed out.

"So, where's the danger? Reverse the spell and everything is fine," Karl asked.

"The danger is situations like the one we may be in now: Forgetting that a spell has been cast and permanently creating a…fractured reality," Noree informed him. "How would you know what had been changed and what had been lost?"

Jack was wide-eyed. "Time is ruined," he said mostly to himself, but the remark drew all eyes to him.

"What was that, child?" Noree asked.

"It's nothing," Karl answered. This wasn't the time for Jack to break into one of his rock songs again.

"It's Shō. '_End of My World'_, you know that song, Karl? '_Time is ruined, you can't go back, storms are brewing, the world's off track_…'. Karl, you're a geek, right? It's like on that 'Star Trek', where something gets changed and then you end up in some parallel reality. That's what Noree's saying, right?"

"If he's used the stone, then we'll need both the Tohma Faiere and the outsider if we're to learn what he's changed and restore the timeline. You did say that he still has the stone?" Noree asked. Marion nodded. "Where is he now?"

"He got away from us, unfortunately," Marion answered.

"I'll find him," Karl promised. "In fact, I think I know where he'll show his face next." Determined now, the skybax rider headed for the exit. He didn't need to look or hear her footsteps close behind to know Romana had his back.


	5. Chapter 5

6

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _ Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

"Full house, queens high."

"Four kings."

"Sonuva---" Frank dropped his cards on the table, disgusted. The young outsider looked quite pleased with himself, and why not---he had half of the tavern's profits for the night in those frayed pockets of his. He also had Frank's remaining stock of the cola and one of the 'Sports Illustrated' magazines Karl had found in the yacht wreckage. David had pounced on the magazine like a drowning man hanging on to a life preserver. More annoying still, the kid was being quite obnoxious about being able to flip through the magazine while at the same time humiliating the tavern owner at cards.

Frank collected the cards and began reshuffling them, resuming their conversation, "And you're still nuts. Any sport that would have an award for 'gentlemanly play' is not a sport. I don't plunk down my money to see guys play nicely."

"They don't have the old joke 'I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out' for nothing, Frank. Give me a game with some action over a bunch of guys standing around spitting and scratching---jeez, it's like a night with Le Sage's crew."

Frank glared. "Are you insulting our national past time?"

"Just saying give me the ice and the chance for a good fist fight instead," David said.

The older man nodded, dealing the next hand of cards. "Not much chance of getting either one here."

"Tell me about it."

"The last game I saw before we got stuck here was Super Bowl Thirty-Six. Fifteen hundred bucks for tickets---Karl had his nose in a book, as usual, the whole time and Jack was flirting with the girls sitting next to him. So, to impress the girls, he uses his fake i.d. to sneak a beer…long story short, he ended up yakking from the cheap seats down onto a section of the most unforgiving Pats fans I've ever met in my life." Frank felt a headache coming on remembering it.

David laughed. "Must have been a helluva game."

Frank smiled a bit. "I'm glad we got to go before all this happened. I didn't think it was going to be our last chance."

David lapsed into silence for a long while. "Frank, if you had the chance to go----" He regretted the question before he finished it. Frank's eyes narrowed and stared like a parent trying to figure out what kind of trouble a child was getting into.

"David, _are_ you planning something--"

Movement out the corner of Frank's eye warned him barely in time for him to duck as a mug came flying across the air. It missed both Frank and David by inches and shattered against the wall behind the outsider's head. Both turned at the sound of shouting from the other side of the room. A group of spectators were gathered around two outsiders who circled each other with murder in their eyes.

"What's going on now?" Frank shouted above the roar of the onlookers, moving to intervene.

"Arguing over who's got the worst b.o. probably." David followed the older man. He recognized the two brawlers and his stomach sank just a bit. They were part of Payden Borale's pack. Payden was a staunch ally of Gabriel Dane. That wasn't good.

"Hey!" Frank pushed through the crowd and inserted himself between the combatants. He pushed them away from each other and fixed them with a stare that warned he was not to be messed with. "Take this outside or sit down!"

David saw the bone dagger before Frank did---months of dealing with the too-excitable outsider packs had made watching for quick movements and the glint of blades a survival reflex. Before the man could turn the weapon on Frank, David was on him. He came up from behind and caught the man's arm, twisting his arm so that the blade pressed against its owner's throat. David pushed just enough for one drop of blood spilled from the attacker's throat onto the metal blade. The man let out a grunt between gritted teeth.

"Sit down," David instructed the outsider slowly, "and have another drink, Robere."

Robere---very gingerly, as David was still holding his arm so the blade remained poised at his own throat---sank back into his seat at the table. David released Robere's arm only when he was sure the outsider was calmed down and would remain put. "You too, Miguel. Sit." David told the other brawler. Frank retrieved the chair Miguel had upended and righted it, sliding it in front of the outsider.

"No weapons in my place. You know the rules." Frank held out his hand.

Robere paid no attention to the tavern owner. He was smirking at David. "Well, well, Barrett. You've learned a few tricks since you left Dane's pack. Le Sage teach you that move?" David didn't bother with an answer. "Word is that you nicked that medallion from the matriarch's pretty little daughter today…Payden knows, so Dane will soon know. Dane's going to kill you."

David didn't doubt it for one second. He leaned across the table, speaking in a low voice to not be overheard by the patrons watching the spectacle…or by Frank. "Next time you're licking Payden's boots, tell him that if Dane wants the sunstone, he can find me tomorrow at the beach…you know, the one where he gave me this." David pointed to the scar over his brow.

He turned from the table and Robere to see Frank glaring. "You did _what_?"

David felt more than a pang of sincere guilt at the accusing look the older man gave him. "Sorry to disappoint you, Frank," the younger man apologized.

"Heads up!"

David had looked away from Robere and Miguel only for an instant. The warning was followed by the scraping noises. He looked up and saw Robere had again raised his dagger…only to be felled when his table skittered, propelled by one powerful kick, across the floor and into his abdomen, doubling him over.

Alano stood over the wheezing outsider, "_I_ learned _that_ from a one-legged carpenter in Gull's Bay."

David grinned at the blonde outsider. "Nice entrance, Al. 'A one-legged carpenter'?"

Alano shrugged. "Jus' liked the sound of it."

Frank stormed over to the table and jerked the dagger from Robere's hand. "That's it! _Out_!" He hoisted the panting man by the back of his neck and shoved him towards the door. "And as for you Dav---"

The lecture on stealing the sunstone that Frank was preparing ended before it began: In the seconds it had taken for Frank to toss Robere, David and Alano had both ducked out the back door of the tavern and disappeared.

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid_! You've gone and stuck your foot in a T-Rex's nest this time! Dane was only annoyed with you before…" Alano never bothered with pleasantries. They hurried out the back door of the tavern and towards the nearby forest, where Freefall waited. Alano wasn't even going to ask where his friend had procured a skybax. David kept one eye on the sky, expecting the skybax patrols or a messenger bird from Marion any time now.

When they were a safe distance from the tavern, Alano stopped. He stared at his friend as if reading David's thoughts. "Will you stop worryin' 'bout upsettin' your off-worlder mate back there and think for a minute…Robere's right, Dane's gonna kill you this time sure as I'm standing here. And if he doesn't, _I_ might!"

The pterosaur growled and bobbed his massive head at David.

"See? The beastie agrees. You've gone off your nut. Again. " Alano continued his reprimand.

"That was _not_ agreement. Was it?" David asked the pterosaur.

Freefall bobbed his head again.

"Traitor," David muttered. He relaxed a bit once they'd reached the cover of the trees. "Al, did you see it or not?"

The blonde sighed. David clearly wasn't going to be talked out of this scheme of his. If Alano didn't help, his friend would get himself killed. "Yeah, I saw it, all right. It's there---at the bottom o' the bay."

David wasn't worried about that. He felt the thrill of hope for escape from the island for the first time in what seemed like forever. "And Dane?"

"Oh, he's there, too, big as life, smelly as a dung heap. Got his people 'round the entire cove. No one's getting in 'less they get past him." Alano confirmed. "I can tell you this much--- even if we get past Dane, we're not goin' anywhere in that tub. It's a wreck."

"I can handle Dane," David said.

"Just 'cause this vein in my temple s'about to go 'pop', would you mind tellin' me how?"

David reached into his coat and for the sunstone medallion. While groping for the pendant, his fingers brushed the smooth surface of his own antique 'topian space rock. The fleeting touch produced another vision:

"_I should warn you," he heard the David in the vision saying, "I'm a skybax rider."_

_The recipient of the warning---Alano and two more outsiders from Le Sage's pack---laughed outright at the comment. The blonde outsider didn't find the smaller, less musclar man or his warning the least bit intimidating. To prove it, Alano reached out with one arm and gave a shove that knocked David off his feet and sent him sprawling into a large heap of what he hoped was mud…_

David blinked, withdrawing his hand from his pocket and the 'topian space rock. Alano was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. "Did you see that?" David asked.

"See what?" Alano asked impatiently.

"Never mind." _First chance I get, I'm dropping that rock into the ocean, antique or not,_ David vowed silently. Carefully this time, avoiding touching the 'topian rock, he drew the sunstone pendant from his pocket. "This is the power source for that boat. Dane's not going anywhere without it. As long as we have it, he's not going anywhere without us, either. Why do you think I went to all that trouble to get this thing before he did?"

Alano was not reassured. "Dane's bloody well going to kill you," he said again.

"Not like he hasn't tried before. He can kill me once we're back on the mainland if he feels that strongly about it," David said.

Alano flicked David's ear just to get his full attention. "Are you listenin' to me! The boat's a heap---looks like somethin' very large took a big bite out of it and chugged the leftovers onto the reef. Even if Dane decides not to feed you to the scalies, even if you can pull the tub out of the bay…"

David gestured to the pterosaur. "Freefall can get it out of the bay."

"…and would you mind telling me why you can ride on that beastie when you can't stand on a bloody ladder without going light in the head?"

"Given the choice between flying with vertigo and getting arrested or eaten…the boat, Al?"

"…it's gonna take years to fix it."

"Not with Le Sage's help," David disagreed.

Alano paused. "You're not seriously thinking of bringing her along?"

David hesitated. He knew his friend's opinion of the pack leader. "We're going to need the extra men. Besides, I gave her my word if I found a way off the island---"

Alano sank down on a nearby rock, rubbing his eyes for frustration. He had warned David about trusting Le Sage the first time the off-worlder had stuck his neck out on her behalf against Gabriel Dane: "_That woman needs chivalry 'bout as much as she needs a third breast. She sure as hell wouldn't come charging to your rescue if it was your neck on the chopping block_."

"---just like I gave _you_ my word," David pointed out.

There was nothing Alano could say to that. "She's agreed?"

"She will."

"How are you going to talk her into that---?" Never mind, I don't want to know." Alano decided. "I don't have a good feeling about this one, David."

"I know." He waited, but Alano said nothing else. David passed the sunstone medallion to his friend. "I'm not a fool. I'm not going to go walking into Le Sage's camp with this---it's the only bargaining chip I have. Until you hear from me, stay out of sight, and I mean _completely_ out of sight. Gabriel knows you're my friend. Once he finds out I've crossed him, he wouldn't be above using you to get to me. Go to Rock Cove and wait until you hear from me. Can I count on you, bro?"

Alano stood up, putting on a show of mock offense. He put the medallion into his own pocket, where it would be _very_ safe indeed. "I said I have your back, mate, and I aim to keep my word."


	6. Chapter 6

8

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language. Plus this chapter has mild sexual content. Very mild, you'd see worse on a daytime soap opera or teen drama t.v. show,but it was too much fun for my evil alter-ego to resist. Thus, it is still rated T._

**4**

There was nothing to be said for babysitting eggs.

Sure, it was way cooler to watch eggs laid by real live dinosaurs instead of regular barnyard chicken and goose eggs, but after a couple of months of staring at them while the eggs did nothing but sit there in the incubator, the novelty wore off. There were days when Jack felt like he was in the middle of a biology project back in Mr. Ramirez's ninth grade science class all over again.

One week in the last six months had been exciting---the week when the eggs had hatched en masse. _You'd have thought it was freaking Mardi Gras the way the islanders fussed and celebrated that week._ Jack had been genuinely caught up in the activity of that week. Rosemary and Marion had kept him running night and day from one new hatchling to the next. The thrill didn't last too long: First there was the joy of the non-stop pounding of full-grown dinosaur feet in the days leading up to the hatchings, which had given Jack a headache that wouldn't quit. _Why did the grown up dinosaurs have to stomp their feet over and over like that? Were they trying to vibrate the babies out of their shells?_ Rosemary had explained the ritual, but Jack's headache had been too distracting for him to pay attention. Then there was the task of caring for the newborns. By the time the last hatchling had been assigned to a human life partner, Jack had gone a full two weeks on little or no sleep, up to his ears in biting, snapping hatchlings and dinosaur droppings the whole time.

_Being 'of the Earth' sucks,_ Jack had concluded.

Fortunately, Rosemary wasn't spending much time in the hatchery this particular week, and Jack was able to sneak in some time for more important projects---namely his on-going efforts to fix up his one prized possession on the island: A satellite radio. He and Karl had found the radio when it washed up on the beach a couple weeks earlier. They had got the device working just long enough to warn an oncoming boat away from the thunderstorm and Razor Reef, but Karl had used a sunstone to power it and the lousy rock had fried the radio's circuits but good.

Karl didn't have time to "waste" on trying to rebuild the radio again, but Jack was determined. For him, getting the radio working again was as vital to his existence as getting his next meal or avoiding the carnosaurs' territory. It would mean picking up satellite music channels. Music. Civilization. Home. Real music, not the medieval stuff that the islanders played on equally primitive instruments. He'd never traveled anywhere without his cd player and a stack of discs. He'd been planning to get an MP3 player before he'd been stranded on Dinotopia. Just hearing music over that radio the last time they'd had it working and thinking about the possibility of having that taste of home again was like a physical ache in Jack's heart.

"…._Waste my time waiting for signs that everything's gonna turn out fine_…"

Curled up in the corner, Twenty-Six let out a growl in response to the human's off-key crooning and about the fact that the sun had set and she was feeling put out about being late getting home for dinner. In answer, the teenager stuck his tongue out at the saurian and went right on with his singing and tinkering.

Jack had sneaked the radio with him to work that day, just as he did everyday, whether he was in the hatchery or the barns or the fields. Everyone took everyone else at their word on this island. No one ever looked into his bag of 'tools' to see whether there were farm implements or bits of radio and wire inside. He'd tried working on it at home, had almost had it working once, but Twenty-Six had knocked it off his nightstand. Jack could have sworn the little brat did it on purpose, and he wasn't giving her another shot at his radio. From that day on, he kept it close to him where he could keep it from getting damaged.

"… _Waste my time seeking designs and the plans and schemes of the things Divine. _

_But the truth's not told, and my fate unfurls. It's the secrets of saints, it's the end of my world…"_

"Thousands of miles from anywhere and still I have to listen to that white noise you kids think is music?"

Jack dropped the screwdriver-like tool he'd been using to pry off the back panel of the radio, but he had the presence of mind not to knock the radio off the table when he jumped. _If Rosemary caught him goofing off with the radio instead of fussing over the eggs…._Jack let out the breath he'd been holding when he saw Frank standing in the doorway. "Jeezus! Don't sneak up like that, Dad! I thought you were Rosemary coming back!"

"In what way could you possibly mistake _me_ for Rosemary?" Frank teased.

"Funny, Dad." Jack started to hurriedly shove his tools and the pieces of the radio into his tool bag. If anyone had seen Frank come in, they'd be sticking their nose into the hatchery to greet him and see what was going on. His father didn't venture too far from the tavern unless it was for something important. Jack really didn't want to get busted for not working. Rosemary had all kinds of ways to 'discourage' slacking off on the job and all of them involved the grossest farm chores imaginable. "Don't tell her about this, 'kay?"

Frank helped him pick up the bits of radio, pursing his lips like he did when he was going to break unpleasant news to one of his sons. "Jack, you know you can't call anyone with this, don't you? I'm not going to be responsible for a search plane or a rescue ship getting wrecked out there."

Jack understood. He was pretty sure that another reason Karl wanted nothing to do with the radio was that he didn't want to be reminded that the means for calling for help was right there but could never be used. "I know. I just wanted to hear some music, you know? Real music."

Frank grinned a bit. Jack and his music obsession---some things never changed. If fixing the radio made it easier for his youngest son to accept being stranded on Dinotopia, then Frank would go along with it. "Yeah, I get it. But that's _not_ music."

Jack relaxed a bit now that he knew he wasn't in danger of having his prize taken away. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, s'long walk from the tavern, what's up?"

His father managed a look of offense. "Long walk? I'm not exactly ready for the old folks home yet, kid. I need to talk to your brother, and I figured he'd be making excuses about coming to dinner again."

The teenager felt bad, mostly because Frank was right. _Karl could be such a wank sometimes…_"Sorry, Dad, he's not here. That outsider jacked Marion's sunstone medallion, so Karl's going all Detective Gerard on him again."

That much Frank knew. "That's what I wanted to talk to him about. When will he be back?"

Jack shrugged. "Who knows? Him and Ro took off looking for the outsider this morning." He looked out the window, noticing the sky had grown darker. "Sun's gone down. They should be back pretty soon. Karl's supposed to pick me up. How about you wait at Flippeau's and I'll bring him by? I mean, you can't walk home in the dark anyway, right?"

Frank was getting sick of talking to his older son via messengers—human, bird, dinosaur, or otherwise. "Wonderful. I have to plan an ambush to talk to my son."

"Oh, wait, Dad!" Jack stopped his father halfway out the door. "You think you can take Twenty-Six with? I'm bringing work home and…

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Playing with that radio, you mean?"

Jack tried the puppy-dog eyes. "No, Marion gave us a whole stack of reading for school and I thought I'd----" One look told him that his father wasn't buying it. "Please, Dad? Spend some time with your granddaughter?" He waited for Frank's usual reaction to that last word.

"I am _not_ her 'grandpa'!" Frank reprimanded. Still, Jack would leave the poor thing sitting in that corner without dinner all night once he got going on that radio of his. Not like Frank could leave the creature to starve. "Fine."

"Great thanks!" Jack moved to retrieve Twenty-Six. The casmasaur let out another growl and tried to bite off his outstretched hand. He turned to Frank. "Uh, would you mind?"

Heaving a patient sigh, his father retrieved the baby dinosaur. She tucked contentedly under the older man's arm. "See, she loves you," Jack said.

"Swell." As he passed the table, Frank paused long enough to snatch the bag containing Jack's radio with his free hand.

Jack yelped, "Hey! What the---?"

Frank grinned over his shoulder as he strode out of the room. "You've got a stack of homework to do tonight, remember?"

Doris Le Sage was, if anything, a practical woman. A lady didn't survive more than three decades in the wilds of Dinotopia, much less hold reign over her own pack of rovers, without a good head on her shoulders. The old fortress she'd selected as home for her pack was a wise choice: The fortress stood in a clearing on the edge of a cliff and backed up to the ocean, reducing the chances of a sneak attack from predators or anyone who was hacked off at the Outsider queen on a given day. The open meadow in front of the castle offered no hiding place to anyone thinking of attacking the place. Trees had been cut to logs, then sharpened to points and formed a criss-cross fence around the outsider perimeter of the hideaway. Even if those spikes didn't impale an attacking T-Rex, David was sure a rampaging carnasaur would have trouble bashing through the thick, stone walls of the place. He would guess that, although it was on the very edge of the sunstone's protective glow, this was probably the safest location on the island save for Waterfall City itself.

David only hoped she was also practical enough to let bygones by bygones in exchange for her most heartfelt desire: A ride off the island.

He'd been expecting a bad reception, and, as usual, Le Sage didn't disappoint him. David didn't begin to know how to approach her. He was tempted to fly Freefall right over the wall of the castle/fortress and land in their midst, let the surprise buy him some time to try to talk her into his plan. Since that plan would place him and the pterosaur in some danger of being skewered by the spears they were sure to keep on hand in case of a scalie attack, he made that 'Plan B'. 'Plan A' was simpler and more direct: He landed outside the wall and knocked on the iron door beside the gate.

The guard---a particularly hairy, apeish, smelly little fellow--- poked his nose out the door, took one look at the visitor and the albino pterosaur, and sniggered. "Well, well, well, take a look at what we have here…a worthless reptile and his pet pterosaur."

David held his breath, not from nervousness, but from self-preservation against the stink of the man's fetid breath. He had spent months crawling around the island and its forests with members of Dane's rather stinky pack, but the man guarding Le Sage's domain had achieved new heights in offensive body odor. He wished Le Sage's attention to detail extended to the hygiene of her gang and made a mental note to add having her lackeys bathe to the negotiations for Le Sage's help.

David remembered the toothless guard from his days with the pack and tried to recall the man's name. "Bertram…" He breathed only as much as necessary to get the words out. "I need to see Le Sage."

Bertram quirked an eyebrow. 'And I'd dearly love ta let ya see her…we could use the entertainment watching her make a drum out of your hide, Barrett. 'Cept that my skin will be hanging on the wall next to yers if I let ya in here." He looked at the skybax with disgust. "Especially with yer new friend there." With that, Bertram slammed the door shut. There was the scrape of metal on wood from inside as a bar was lowered across the door to lock David out.

"So much for asking nicely," David said. He returned to Freefall and swung onto the pterosaur's back. "Pay attention, Freefall. Back home, this is what we call 'crashing a party'."

The pterosaur cleared the spike fence and stone walls with two effortless flaps of his massive wings. The walls might have been high, but there was an open courtyard that afforded a landing spot for the dinosaur. Men and a few women milled about the courtyard, sitting on broken crates, piles of hay, or sprawled on the dirt. They arm-wrestled (or outright wrestled), sang (way off key), drank homemade alcohol---very un-Dinotopian---and boasted of fights with scalies and sexual exploits until the sudden arrival of a pterosaur in the middle of the open yard brought the festivities to a halt. The outsiders scattered: Most backed away as dinosaur gave a roar, but a few reached for spears stacked by the gate. One charged the pterosaur, and Freefall batted him away with a sweep of his wing. The blow sent the man reeling into a puddle of mud. Bertram picked up a pole and aimed a blow at Freefall's rider. David caught the end of the pole, hooked his arm around it, and swung Bertram into a third guard. He tossed the pole to the ground where Bertram and the guard had fallen.

Two strong hands seized David from behind, latching onto his coat and dragging him from the pterosaur's back before either one had time to react. David felt himself pitched to the ground. Freefall saw his rider's plight and swiveled to confront the attacker. David tried to stand, but froze when he felt the tip of a spear press against his chest. He raised a hand to Freefall, and the pterosaur halted its attack.

"Ditching me in favor of a scalie? I won't pretend that doesn't hurt." Despite the words, Doris Le Sage sounded amused as she stared down at David from the other end of the spear.

"Hello, Le Sage."

"Hello, lover…and goodbye."

He spoke as fast as he could, before she could shove that spear into his heart. "I have Marion's sunstone."

The spear remained pressed against him, but it wasn't skewering him…yet. The dark-haired woman stared down at him. At least she didn't laugh. In fact, her merriment had abated quickly; she was all business now. If she were interested---or aware of the implications of what he'd just said---it wasn't betrayed in her stoic expression. The pack waited for her reaction-clearly they hadn't a clue what David was talking about. There was something quite evil in their smiles and the whispers they traded. David was a traitor to them and neither was he attached to or under the protection of another pack. That made him fair game for almost any abuse that amused them. They wouldn't harm him until Le Sage gave her permission, so whether he lived out the night depended on his ability to win her good graces. _No pressure._

Le Sage, for her part, had been prepared for almost anything when the knock came on the gate---except the sight of David Barrett landing there in her courtyard, riding a scalie no less, boasting possession of the sunstone medallion. She was angry, yes, but if he was serious…she should kill him on principle, but any potential for escaping the island took priority over emotional concerns. "Show me."

_So, she did know what he was implying._ If she didn't, Le Sage would have killed him or asked him what Marion's sunstone had to do with anything. "And if I brought the sunstone here, what would stop you from making a pincushion out of me and keeping it for yourself?" David tsked.

She didn't deny it. "You know me too well. For my own information, are any of Rosemary's…what did you call them?"

"Dino-scouts," David supplied the word.

"Dino-scouts going to come looking for that shiny rock of theirs?" Le Sage finished.

"I can almost guarantee it."

"Lovely." Her gave shifted to the harrumphing pterosaur. "The scalie goes," she demanded.

"He stays."

She complained, "He's stinking up the place."

"He's too late for that," David shot back.

He had her. David saw it in her eyes despite her substantial self-control. He saw it in the way the hand holding the spear trembled just a bit. She stared at him for another minute before the wicked smile returned. The scrawny fellow, Bertram, darted over and whispered something to her, pointing to David. Le Sage responded by laying her free hand over the guy's face and shoving him aside. Regally, she withdrew the spear and offered David a hand getting back on his feet. "Let's talk."

She tossed the spear to her guards and linked her arm through David's. "Bertram, babysit our scalie friend…and if any other unexpected guests drop in, I'm going to hang you from the high tower for pteranodon bait."

David gestured to the uncovered courtyard. "Speaking of which, what do you do if a pteranodon flies in?"

Malice shone in her eyes. "I roast it on a very large spit…and make boots out of its skin." The pack exploded in laughter and whistles.

"Harsh," David answered.

As she guided him deeper into the old castle, he glanced around with interest. "Whoah…this place isn't the Ramada Inn, but it's a helluva lot better than those caves Dane used to have us sleeping in."

"I never sleep outside anymore. It defeats the purpose of having your own castle." Le Sage grinned. "I always said I'd be a better pack leader than that troll."

"I always agreed," he reminded her.

They stopped in front of a large, wooden door. She pushed the door open to reveal her own chamber. "And yet you leave me for a scalie?" She released his arm and leaned against the door, holding it open until he stepped into the room.

"The scalie's just a friend. Really." He glanced around the room. Most of the rooms he'd slept in since coming to the island were rented rooms above stores and taverns, furnished with cots and rickety tables. Her suite, with it's fireplace, oversized bed, rugs, and bureau, was luxurious even by 'topian standards.

In one fluid motion, Le Sage followed him into the room and closed the heavy door behind her with a powerful kick. Her smile was positively wicked. David knew _that_ look.

"You look good, by the way," he complimented.

She beamed a bit. "I know. But you…" Le Sage moved to stand in front of him and fingered the buttons of his shirt. He had forgotten that he was still wearing the 'topian disguise. "…who are you kidding with this outfit?"

"Camouflage. Awful, isn't it?"

"Well, thank the ancestors." With that, she hooked his legs with her own and pitched both of them down onto the rugs in the vicinity of her bed. Le Sage landed on top of him. She wasted no time getting to work on removing the offending outfit. "Ditching me for a scalie is one thing. But, ditching me for the scalie-lovers? Now _that_ would be insulting. Do you have any idea how lonely a woman can get, all alone here with no one but that hairy unwashed lot out there for company?"

"What was that rumor I heard about you and some alchemist mad scientist?" he teased her.

She almost managed an innocent look, but not quite. "That was just business…besides, he disintegrated."

"Drag."

"These things happen."


	7. Chapter 7

8

_See part one for explanation and_ _disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

The problem with the theory of growing wiser with age was that, in the interim between "youth" and "wisdom", there was plenty of time to really screw up your life, especially where your children were concerned. Frank Scott was beginning to understand this towards the end of his fourth decade on the planet. He was feeling the 'older' part, particularly since landing on this island-that-time-forgot, but he wasn't sure how quickly the 'wiser' part was coming along.

Karl didn't make things easier…in fact there were times that Frank was almost positive his older son went out of his way to drive him crazy.

_"This is another whim, Karl. This is another 'dad hates it, so it must be a good idea' Karl special."_

_"You might not believe it, Dad, but I don't plan my every move in life just to piss you off."_

_"What do you expect? You want me to be thrilled that my son's flying around on some overgrown lizard with nothing but that flimsy uniform between him and the ptera-whatever-you-call-them? Should I dance for joy that you're using yourself as live bait for the T-Rex? I spent two months in that cave thinking you and Jack drowned. I didn't get you back so you could risk your life for this place."_

_"This place, this job, is important, Dad. It's important to me. You don't even want to try to understand."_

_"I understand that you think you're going to stay committed to this, Karl, but I know you. In a couple of months, you're going to realize that dino-riding doesn't make your happy and move on to the next big obsession. I just don't want you getting killed for your hobby in the meantime."_

_'Hobby!' "No, you're the one who can't handle sticking with something, Dad. You want to know why none of those sports, those 'extreme weekends', the summer camps, the 'guys' nights out', the chasing girls in ever port, none of that stuff ever made me happy? Because that's the stuff that's important to you and Jack, not to me. I hate sports, I hate camping…I'm a nerd. I like reading my books and my science projects and 'Buck Rogers' marathons on the Sci-Fi channel. I don't want to be a jock, or a skirt chaser, or anything of those things you are. I for sure wouldn't knock up a girl and then ditch her and go knock up another girl. And I really don't need to have you give me that disappointed look you give me every time I never measured up to your expectations."_

_"Don't act like a martyr, kid, you weren't the easiest person to get along with. I tried being friends with you and all I got was the back of your head while you had your nose stuck in those books and those science projects…"_

_"You have to have something in common to be friends." _

"_Thank you Dr. Phil. I was there for the important stuff. Could you ever not call me if you needed me? I was there when your mother died."_

"_I could've gone to live with grandma and grandpa." It would have been better than dealing with his father's "grief through denial" attitude and Jack's…well, Jack's complete absence due to his equal inability to cope the minute life got difficult._

_"Like hell you could have. You're my son, my responsibility."_

_"Well, I'm staying with the corps even if you don't approve as usual. I'm not your 'responsibility' any more."_

_"You're still my son, aren't you?"_

Frank had become a master of sticking his foot in his mouth when trying to communicate with his older son. He'd never had a problem talking with Jack, and, hell, for that matter, Frank could communicate with the outsider kid better than he could with Karl. Carol had known how to keep some sort of truce between her son and his father, but, without her help, Frank was fumbling along as best he could. Frank was stubborn and kept trying, but, unfortunately, Karl had inherited his father's obstinacy and gave it back in spades when he got his mind set to doing something. The kid worried him, though. Karl spent his life bouncing from one obsession to the next, one friend to the next, one club to the next, never settling anywhere and never finding his niche. Frank knew the kid was unhappy in the corps and was probably sticking it out only for Marion's sake, being so set on impressing her.

Whatever it was that Karl was looking for, whatever he felt was missing from his life, his father sure hoped Marion could fill up the void because Frank was damned if _he_ knew how to do it.

Karl had been right about one thing: Frank's parenting skills had been somewhat wanting for the first few years of the boys' lives. He knew he'd been irresponsible back then, had still had a wandering foot that itched, a sex drive that wouldn't be satisfied by just one woman when there was a world full of lovely ladies out there, and parenting skills that were lacking at best. He'd been so enthralled with the idea of having a son that when he'd finally started hanging around with Karl, he'd had started imposing all the things he wanted his oldest son to be onto the boy's shoulders. Frank had rebelled when his own father had tried to mold him in his own image, but somehow he still managed to be surprised when Karl reacted the same way to Frank's efforts.

He was supposed to be better at dealing with his sons by now, wasn't he?

Despite many invitations to the tavern, Frank hadn't seen Karl in the last few weeks, not since that argument. Frank half-expected that Jack would let it slip that their father was staying at Flippeau's that evening and Karl would high-tail it back to Canyon City without ever stepping foot in the house. As another hour ticked by with no sign of his sons, Frank began seriously considering taking a "bus" (Lord give him strength living in a place where heaping people onto the backs of giant dinosaurs and proceeding at a snail's pace through the forest constituted 'public transportation') to Canyon City.

Then he heard the tavern door creak open. Frank didn't need to ask who it was---the squeal of joy from Twenty-Six and the speed at which the baby casmasaur launched herself from her bed beneath the table and charged across the room to greet the newcomer told him who had arrived. Jack let out a bark of annoyance and pain—undoubtedly nipped again---and a familiar voice mumbled something meant to sooth ruffled baby dinosaurs in response.

The tiny dinosaur's body already had some weight and muscle to it, and she nearly knocked Karl down like a bowling pin when she attempted to wrap herself around his legs. "Easy there, Dino! I'm glad to see you, too," Karl smiled. He scooped up Twenty-Six and tucked her under his arm before she tried to head-butt his leg with that thick skullcap of hers to get his attention. "What's the matter, girl? Jack did you leave her alone all day again?"

Jack craned his neck, spying the figure approaching from the living room before his brother did. "No! I left her with her grandpa."

At that, Karl suddenly looked up from the baby casmasaur he was holding and froze. He didn't have time to react, much less put down Twenty-Six and head back out the door, before he heard a response to Jack's words:

"For the last time, I am not her 'grandpa'," Frank insisted.

Karl tensed involuntarily at Frank's voice. It was amazing how his dad's mere presence could still twist him in knots as an adult the way it had when Karl was a kid. He gave Jack a withering glare. "You are _so_ dead," he whispered.

"Oops, look at that, forgot to feed Twenty-Six. I'd better get to it." Jack bolted for the safety of the guest room, getting out of the line of fire, but forgetting to take the dinosaur with him.

Karl resigned himself to the inevitable. "You two tricked me."

"That's a helluva greeting," Dad countered.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"So Jack tells me. Sit down for one minute, kid, you look like you're going to fall over. Have you slept---"

Karl turned towards the door. "I really don't have time…"

"Make time." Frank kicked a chair from the small dining table towards his son to press his point. Karl balked, but grudgingly sat…or rather, sagged…onto the seat. Frank sat across the table from him. "I realize that you're a skybax rider now, but that doesn't mean you can't visit your family."

"Can we not have this argument again?" Karl asked. He hadn't been to the tavern in a couple of months, even though there was a room upstairs for his use any time he felt like staying. Karl preferred his quarters at the riders' base for just this reason---too much time together invariably lead to another row between the two of them.

_Well, that wasn't going to happen this time._ Karl was resolved to be in and out in only the time it took for Frank to say him whatever had made him come all the way to Flippeau's house from the tavern.

"I'm not arguing. I'm just saying I'd like to see my oldest son once in awhile. You're never around."

"Like father, like son, right?"

"Now who's starting an argument?" Frank fired back. Karl held up both hands and Frank relented. "So, you had another run in with Barrett yesterday?"

"Yeah, your buddy robbed the Sanctuary. He took off with Marion's sunstone medallion. Nice patrons, by the way, Dad. So, like I said, I'm in kind of a rush to find him---"

"Sit down!" Frank commanded and Karl plopped back into the seat at once. "Do me a favor: When I tell you what I'm going to tell you, don't try to charge in by yourself like James Bond or Batman and take on a whole pack of Outsiders by yourself. I'm not going to tell you if it means you getting yourself killed. You're supposed to be the sensible one in the family, so be sensible and get help. Agreed?"

Karl shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"Karl…"

"Fine. Agreed."

"Barrett and Le Sage have got a meeting with an Outsider named Gabriel Dane sometime tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with that necklace he stole from Marion."

Karl knew of Dane…and he knew Marion had a run in with him months back while Karl and Jack were busy dealing with Cyrus. She'd told him the entire story, and the notion of Dane mistreating her still made Karl's skin crawl. He was probably the only outsider on the island whom the skybax rider despised more than Barrett. "And you're actually telling me about it?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Frank sounded offended.

"I just meant---you always say you don't like to get into the affairs of your patrons…"

"And I don't like my patrons messing with my sons or their friends," Frank added. It was true---Frank liked Marion very much. Her welfare was important to Karl, so it was important to Frank as well. He didn't voice his other concern, but privately he was also worried about the Outsider kid. Dane was dangerous and his grudge against Barrett was common knowledge among the packs, which meant that it was also common knowledge to the proprietor of their favorite hangout. Frank doubted Barrett would fare any better against Dane on his own than Karl would. Frank would rather see the skybax riders arrest him or whatever they did than leave him to Dane's pack.

Karl actually looked pleased, just for a second or two. "Where are they meeting Dane?"

"Can't help you there. All I know is it's a beach. Barrett said it was the one where Dane gave him that scar over his eyebrow. Don't ask me what that means 'cause I don't have a clue."

"That's a lot of beaches to check." _Marion might know_. Karl would ask her. He and Romana had already come up empty looking for Barrett at Le Sage's that day---it wasn't like the outsider could hide that albino pterosaur, even in her castle. His instincts had been right, though, Barrett had been heading to Le Sage's. Karl must have just missed him. It was too late to go back there now, but the castle went to the top of his list of places to stakeout in the morning.

"Dane's dangerous, Karl. That's why I made you promise not to go alone. Don't mess with him unless you----well, don't mess with him _period_." Frank was still explaining, "I _do_ know Dane's been spending a lot of time around Gull's Bay and Zuru. Barrett's been in that area, too. I can't say for sure, but since he made a point of taking that sunstone…and some of the things he's said around here…I think Barrett might have it in his head to try to cross the Razor Reef."

_Of course_. Karl should have thought about that way before now, he kicked himself mentally. Suddenly, the reason for the robbery clarified: Barrett wanted Cyrus' submarine. If Dane had found it first, then the medallion was Barrett's leverage. _It would serve the obnoxious outsider right if Karl just left him to Dane, or better still let him crash into the Razor Reef…or maybe they'd all get real lucky and Dane would drop Barrett into a hole somewhere…_

Frank read his mind. "You understand that would be a _bad_ thing, right?"

"I s'pose." Karl rose from the table and headed to the door. "I guess I'll tell Romana and Marion. First thing tomorrow, we'll go get the annoying sonu---"

"Karl…"

"Kidding!" He paused in the doorway. "Thanks, Dad."

"You should come around the tavern more often. You might hear these rumors for yourself," Frank chided gently. "Besides, it would be nice to see you once in awhile."

Karl grinned this time. "We'll see." Then he was gone.

Frank sighed. _I guess that's a start._

One of the things Romana Denison liked about flying was the quiet times. Certainly, there were hair-raising moments when the riders were called upon to rescue citizens from carnosaurs, which almost always meant physically putting themselves between the dangerous creatures and the bystanders to give the civilians time to escape. When called upon, Romana was afraid, of course, but she never hesitated. She was a Denison, after all. She came from a long line of skybax riders, all of whom had earned the respect and praise of their wingmates. She even used the saddle her father, a legend among the riders, had used during his time in the corps. She had been preparing all her life to accept the dangers that came with the job.

But there were other moments to off set the perilous times. Being in the sky, alone on the back of her pterosaur, with the wind making any communication between riders, other than a sort of sign language, impossible, was the time when she felt most at peace. She was away from the boisterous crowd in the common areas of the base, away from the bustle of the city, with time to think…for a great deal of thinking, in fact.

As she waited outside the house, Romana's thoughts---as they frequently did lately---turned to her wingmate. They weren't romantic thoughts in any way. It was true that bonding between riders was commonplace, the byproduct of long hours or days at a time spent together on patrols and missions, and Karl had the qualities Romana would have found attractive in a prospective lover---kindness, courage, intelligence, determination, and dedication to the corps and to the island and its people. For all those things he'd earned her unwavering friendship, and she would have his back no matter what. But she'd still never quite had _those_ feelings about her wingmate. Besides which, even if Romana had the slightest inclinations towards bonding with him, it had been apparent to her since the first day he'd arrived in Canyon City that Karl was whole-heartedly enamored of the matriarch's daughter, Marion…even if he was obviously going to need a swift kick in the seat of his pants to get him to pluck up the courage to ask her to the Dawn Festival.

No, they weren't romantic thoughts preoccupying Romana. She was worried about Karl Scott.

Like Romana, most skybax riders knew from childhood that the corps was where they belonged. The sky called to their souls, and youth was spent impatiently searching for any means to get airborne until the day came when they were finally dubbed "of the Sky" and called to Canyon City for training. A few riders, those who hadn't fully heard the call within their soul, were directed to the corps by Rosemary or Sanctuary Keepers. Such riders might start off with doubts, but with encouragement usually overcame such doubts. Invariably, the corps became their lives and they were quite happy there. The ones who couldn't get over doubts and fear were ultimately weeded out by their trainers or rejected by the pterosaurs. A prospective rider unable to find a pterosaur to accept him was dismissed from the corps. A very, _very_ few people with such doubts had enough raw determination to make it through the training and to even find a pterosaur, but invariably they were never quite happy in the corps afterwards.

That was what had worried Romana more and more over the past few weeks since she'd become Karl's wingmate: He wasn't happy. Karl was a great rider, one of the best in fact, but his heart wasn't in it. She felt it intuitively in her own heart; she saw it in his eyes in moments when he let his guard down.

Romana suspected his family was one of the sources of his unhappiness in the corps. She knew what it was like to deal with family expectations, but in Karl's case, his father's plans for his son had never included landing on Dinotopia much less having his son occupying the single most dangerous job on the island. The harder Frank Scott tried to persuade his son to abandon the corps for something safer, the more determined Karl was to stay.

There was also Marion, and Karl's infatuation with her, to consider. It was Marion's family who placed Karl in the corps, and if it impressed the girl, then Karl would probably stay in the corps until he was old and gray, miserable the entire time. Just look how he was ready to hunt down that thief who'd made the mistake of stealing Marion's sunstone.

Romana was ready to hunt him down as well, but for her own reasons: She despised thieves. She'd been raised to do her share for the well-being of the island, to believe in the rules and tradition of the Dinotopians. Those rules and traditions, the need for everyone to work together, was what enabled people to survive on the island. A rider who didn't follow rules got other riders killed. A civilian who didn't follow the rules lived off the labors of others. Anyone who was too lazy or otherwise unwilling to pull their own weight, who didn't respect the rules of the island, annoyed her deeply. That was one reason she frequently lost her temper with Jack, who was more adept at sleeping than working. But, with Karl, it wasn't the fact that the thief defied Dinotopian law that drove him, nor was it because the medallion was a Dinotopian artifact---Karl wanted to catch the thief simply because he'd stolen from Marion.

She'd have to speak to Karl. If she didn't, she knew Udo would. But it was going to have to wait until the more important matter of retrieving the medallion was resolved. After an exhausting day of combing the island, unsuccessfully, in search of the outsider, she was ready for her bunk at the base. She lingered in Waterfall City only long enough to deliver the days reports to Waldo and Rosemary and was just climbing onto her skybax when she heard her wingmate calling her. She'd left Karl and Jack at Flippeau's and hadn't expected to see him until morning. Whatever it was must have been important.

"Romana!"

She saw Karl jogging towards her. From the look on his face, he had good news. Romana had put her troubled thoughts to rest.

"Glad I caught you." He took a minute to catch his breath. "You're not going to believe this, but I think I just got the 411 on our outsider buddy."

Another off-worlder expression, but at least it was one Romana was now familiar with. "From who?"

"My dad."

Romana couldn't hide her surprise. Karl grinned---an expression he didn't often wear these days, especially after he'd been talking to his father. "Hope you're up for a trip to the coast in the morning."

She returned his grin. "Always."


	8. Chapter 8

7

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language. Plus this chapter has some mild sexual content. Very, very mild (same disclaimer as for the previous chapter)._

**5**

If you ignored the stink of oiled dinosaur hide, it would have been romantic being up there in the late afternoon light with Marion, Karl thought. Having her as a passenger on his skybax required Karl to keep one arm across her shoulders to help keep her from falling off as Pterra bobbed and weaved through the sky. He knew very well that Marion had ridden skybaxes enough times to be as qualified as any rider and probably didn't need his assistance to stay aboard, but hey, rules were rules. If the rules worked in his favor by giving him a reason to be this close to her, so much the better. He'd have to remember to take her flying again after this business with the Tohma Faiere was settled…a sunrise flight around the island would be a perfect set-up for asking her to the Dawn Festival.

Or maybe not…there wasn't one thing romantic about their current flight to Le Sage's hideaway. Karl couldn't flirt or say anything charming when the wind and the thunder of pounding wings carried his words away. Riders relied on hand signals to communicate with each other on a flight for that reason. He couldn't gaze meaningfully into her eyes while his riding goggles covered half his face. And, even if they were lying side-by-side on Pterra's back, so close that he was practically lying on top of Marion, he knew romance was way down on her list of priorities at the moment.

As Le Sage's palace appeared on the horizon, Marion pointed to something on one of its towers. Karl followed her gaze and caught the glint of very pale dinosaur hide almost glowing as it caught the glowing sunset. Barrett's pterosaur…it could be nothing else. "Dad was right," Karl said, knowing Marion couldn't hear him even though her face was inches from his. The sight of the albino skybax spurred a moment of triumph in him. David Barrett was there, all right. Karl had been to the palace enough times to know where the entrance was, and he guided Pterra towards the open courtyard.

Their arrival didn't go unnoticed. Almost as quickly as Karl and Marion had spotted the albino, the pterosaur spied Pterra soaring towards the castle. It tilted back its head and let out a screech…which startled the hell out of the group of men and women gathered in the courtyard below, drinking, singing, sleeping (or passed out) up until that point. To Karl's dismay, Le Sage and David were not among them. _That would have been too easy._ Some of the outsiders peered up at Pterra. A few stood up, the ones grasping mugs and bottles having an especially difficult time doing so. Most of them spared Karl and Marion just one look and went back to whatever they'd been doing before the interruption.

The albino, however, roared a challenge directed at Pterra when she got too close to the palace. The pale pterosaur sprang into the sky. It clearly meant to lead Karl's skybax away, and he felt Pterra's muscular back tense beneath him. Her head tracked the albino's path and she pulled against Karl as he held her back. "Don't you dare!" he bellowed over the wind. If Pterra didn't hear, she should sense his command.

Pterra watched the circling albino as it baited her to follow, but---at Karl and Marion's insistence---she maintained her course for the courtyard with only a brief noise of disappointment. The albino, however, realized she wasn't following and arched around. He streaked directly towards Pterra. Karl felt déjà vu as the dinosaur sailed past his own mount, doing a fly-by so close that Marion had to grab on to Karl with all her strength to keep from falling off Pterra.

Karl wasn't waiting for the rotten creature to make another pass at them. Ticked off now, he directed Pterra in almost a nose-dive right down into the courtyard. The albino circled above, seeming uncertain of what it should do, then perched along a wall high above the courtyard and glared down at the intruders.

Karl jumped from Pterra's back and hurried to help Marion down. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Marion glared up at the albino and scolded it. "Now, that wasn't very nice."

The albino whuffed. It must have said something to Marion via her empathic connection to saurians, because the human gaped a bit in reaction. "Well, _that_ wasn't very nice, either!"

"Like rider, like pterosaur," Karl quipped. He removed his helmet and goggles and surveyed the courtyard and its occupants. Their presence still hadn't elicited much interest from the foul, smelly group of outsiders. "They could use about a million bars of 'Lever 2000'," he observed quietly to Marion, discreetly trying to cover his nose against the smell, "And maybe a flea dip."

"We want to speak to David Barrett. We know he's here," Marion informed the crowd. Several of them smirked or snickered at the order. "I'm not joking!"

Karl raised an eyebrow. "Did we say something funny?" he asked her.

"Never mind them. We know the way." She started for the corridor that would lead to Le Sage's private chamber deeper in the hideaway, assuming that's where she'd find Le Sage and David.

A few particularly vile-smelling fellows lumbered over, arms folded. They physically blocked Karl and Marion's path. Karl found himself standing eye-level with their broad chests. He leaned his head back to stare up at them. In return, they were frowning down at him. Karl smiled in appeasement, then pulled Marion back a few steps with him.

"Okay, the way I see it, we have two options," he whispered to her. "Either we count to three and rush them, or you go find Le Sage and Barrett while I hold off her goons with a bar of soap."

_He had the sensation of being pulled down a long tunnel towards the Light, but couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. He had a fleeting memory of grappling with someone---a figure whose image was now shadowy, but David had the impression of someone with short blonde hair, someone who'd been quite determined to strangle the breath out of him. He seemed to recall falling after that, a very long ways, and after that there was no memory of anything but cold and water filling his lungs even as the air rushed out of him._

_So, they were true, those stories he'd read about people who had near-death experiences, and they were right---there was nothing scary about it at all. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to walk into the warmth and serenity that emanated from the Light…the easiest thing if not for the voice that echoed around him, distracting him from his destination. The voice babbled about Coca-Cola and Christmas and fights from very far away. David thought he should recognize the voice. It didn't matter. He ignored the voice and took another step towards the Light. The voice returned, more commanding this time: "Don't fade on me, bro."_

_David hesitated._

"_I can't do this alone," the voice pleaded._

_David actually glanced backwards, into the darkness and cold from which the voice called. He waited to hear what it would say next, but the voice was gone. An eternity passed, and he was about to turn back to the Light that still beckoned._

"…_very far away away…" This disembodied voice was different. Female. Authoritative. Familiar. Not to be ignored. "David, come back."_

_It seemed quite important that he obey the voice. He didn't just hear the urgency in her words, he felt it communicated to him almost telepathically. He turned from the light and took one step into the darkness. A bone-deep chill, so cold it was painful, enveloped him at once. It squeezed off his breath like a vice around his chest. David wanted to stop there, to go back to the Light, but it was flickering and fading away, leaving him there in the darkness._

"_Come back!" the woman called one more time. David grabbed onto her voice with all his will and followed it. The cold grew deeper, his chest ached horribly, but he followed._

"_Open your eyes."_

_David did so, but it took forever for his eyes to focus on his surroundings, for his sluggish mind to return to some sort of lucidity. It was dark. He slowly grasped that he was in the forest, lying on the sand, and had not a clue how he'd gotten there. There were sounds of a river not far away…was that why he was sopping wet? Someone had built a fire nearby, but its heat couldn't penetrate the damp chill he felt. Blurry figures and faces around him very slowly swam into focus. There was a small dinosaur standing a short distance from David, watching with as much anxiety and concern as its reptilian features could convey. _

_There were human shapes, too, much closer---hovering over him in fact. He focused on them. He thought one of them might have short blonde hair. The other was a dark-haired woman who looked like Mar----_

The impact of a powerful blow from an open palm against David's jaw knocked away the cold, the ache, the forest, the dinosaur, and dream-figures his waking mind identified as Marion and that nerdy skybax rider, Karl Scott. David opened his eyes-for real this time---to find himself again on his back, this time beneath the blankets of a lumpy bed in the warmth of the lantern-lit chambers he knew belonged to Le Sage…

…who was, at that moment, scowling down at him, her gaze as angry as the welt she'd just left on his cheek. Sometime while he was asleep, she'd awakened and pulled on her black and red robe. Le Sage was now perched at the foot of the bed, straddling his legs. She was also removing the meteorite pendant from his hand…its glow winking out at the loss of contact with his palm. He had left that in his coat, how did it wind up in his hand?

"What was the slap for!" David rubbed at his stinging cheek.

"I really don't care who you roll around with when you aren't here, kid, but the next time you use another woman's name in _my_ bed---even in your sleep---I'll cut off my favorite parts of that gorgeous body of yours," Le Sage promised.

"Fair enough." He pointed to the 'topian pendant. "Did you go through my pockets!"

"Have we met? Of course I did…just in case you were lying about not bringing the sunstone with you," she retorted. "Interesting trinket you got here. Didn't glow like that for me." She climbed off his legs and sat on the end of the bed, studying the blue meteorite.

"You should be grateful for that. Put that thing away. It's more dangerous than it looks," he warned her. Now that she wasn't pinning him down, he sat up and was about to climb out of the bed before he realized his clothes were still strewn across the floor, just out of his reach. He settled for leaning back against the pillows and headboard.

Le Sage made no move to put away the stone, still fascinated by it. "Where'd you find this thing? Did you steal this from one of Rosemary's temples, I hope?"

"Nope. Just found it in an old cave in the inner island during the scalie rampage. No big deal."

"No big deal? Looks pretty old. I'll bet the scalie-lovers would pay to get it back." Her expression turned suspicious. "It's not one of those rocks that attracts the scalies, is it? 'Cause if it is, so help me…"

"Will you relax! It doesn't do anything, except give you bad dreams."

Repulsed, Le Sage passed it like a hot potato back to David. Before he could stop it, the pendant landed on his bare chest and began to glow. He batted away the stone before it could put any more crazy images into his mind. It landed on the sheets and the glow winked out.

Le Sage smiled a bit at his reaction. "So, you aren't lying about that rock. Damn scalie-lover magic tricks. Must be what Rosemary uses to brainwash people into thinking they like it on this sinkhole island," she complained. "Let's talk about useful meteorites…if Cyrus' submarine is resting at the bottom of the bay, then what good is that little sunstone of Marion's? Boat's not going anywhere if it's full of holes."

David hesitated. This was the part Le Sage wasn't going to like. "Dane's the one who found the sub."

Le Sage looked like she might be physically sick. Her brow furrowed, and when she saw that he wasn't joking, she all but leaped from the bed and began pacing the room. He watched her carefully, just in case she went for her sword again. "I know you don't like him…" David began.

She rolled her eyes. "If he'd ever tried to force his mangy little body on you, you wouldn't much like him either."

"No argument there. Are you going to give me a chance to explain?"

"Yes, explain why you---of all people---would even consider making deals with that walking pile of dinosaur dung. Or was that someone else I remember Dane beating into a pulp, frequently and enthusiastically, after he brought you into the pack?" Hands on hips, she fixed David with a withering stare. "And explain to me why I shouldn't just chuck you out the window right now, while you're at it."

David grinned at her now. "Who said anything about making deals with him?"

She calmed down, but only a bit. "I'm listening."

"The way I see it, Dane's got maybe a quarter of the followers he had before you and Quantro mutinied. That boat probably weighs a ton and it's been at the bottom of the ocean for what, three months? Dane's got no way to get the sub out of the bay…but _I _do."

She followed his meaning. "That giant lizard stinking up my palace?"

"Be nice. I told you the scalie's a friend. Between the pterosaur, your pack, and Dane's pack, we should be able to get the sub into shallow water. It's going to be a mess, probably got some serious damage when it sank, but nothing your men couldn't fix." David knew full well that many members of her pack, hygienically-challenged though they might be---were skilled at working with wood, metal, and rock when the occasion called for it. They had to be in order to put up shelters in a hurry when the pack was roaming during the days of Dane's command. "So, you offer Dane your assistance--- détente if you will---in exchange for a ride on that sub. He's not going to have any problem believing you'd let bygones be bygones if it meant getting off the island."

She mulled that over. "And once we have the sub, what do we need Dane for? He deservers to be bait for the bottom-feeders. My pack does outnumber his pack three to one…"

"That's the part where he might get a little hinky…"

Le Sage crossed back to the bed and plopped down beside David, lying half on top of him. The devious glint had returned to her eyes. "Trust me, I can distract him from details like that. Dane's never used the right head for thinking where I'm concerned."

"That much I noticed. If you get Dane under wraps---I'll leave that detail to you---I seriously doubt anyone in his gang would have issues with leaving him behind." David corrected himself, "Except for Payden that is."

She nodded her agreement. "He's _definitely_ going to have a problem with it. You have a plan for dealing with him?"

The last he'd heard, Payden was on the opposite side of the island from Gull's Bay and Zuru, where the submarine and Dane were at the moment. He was probably spending time with some of his children. With any luck he'd stay there with his family while Dane went after the boat. David would rather deal with a dozen Gabriel Danes than one Payden Boreal. Dane hunted dinosaurs to stay alive until he could escape the island. Payden had always told David that--unlike his fellow outsiders---he had no interest in getting off the island. He hunted the dinosaurs with the intention of exterminating them to make the island safe for his children. "_You off-worlders believe in the Garden of Eden, Barrett? I do as well. I believe this island is it…we just need to be rid of the serpents," _Payden had justified after one particularly vicious killing of a T-Rex.

"Actually, I was kind of hoping he wouldn't show up," David admitted.

"David!"

"I'll figure it out if the time comes, don't worry. We'll leave him tied up beside Dane if we have to."

She wrapped her arms around him, beaming a bit. "You know, this streak of moral flexibility you've developed since you washed up on the island is definitely appealing." To prove it, she gave him a kiss that made him momentarily forget Dane, submarines, dinosaurs, and the island in general.

"Kiss Dane like that and he may not even notice the submarine's gone," David complimented.

Le Sage shuddered in disgust. "I'd rather kiss the pterosaur."

"From the looks of it, that'd be a trade up." A new, annoyingly familiar male voice interjected. Le Sage glanced over her shoulder to find her chamber door open and Marion and Karl Scott, flanked by her apparently-useless guards, standing there. The matriarch's daughter took in the scene and blushed furiously. The guards snickered. Karl Scott glanced at the two outsiders in their very obvious state of undress and made a sour face. He remarked to Marion, "We have _got_ to start calling before we barge in here…"


	9. Chapter 9

6

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._ _Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language, plus this chapter still has very mild sexual content. _

Le Sage stood, crossing her arms. Her anger was directed at her pack members rather than the new arrivals. "Just to clarify---_again_---the purpose of having guards is to keep unwanted guests _out_ of the castle, _not_ to escort them into my bedroom!"

"Trust me, it's no thrill for us either," Karl said.

The younger woman still gaped at Le Sage and David. "You---I don't believe you would--"

"Oh don't give me that. You had your chance," Le Sage countered.

Karl raised an eyebrow at Marion. "You what?"

Marion snapped out of her stupor when she saw the glint of the blue crystal on the bedcovers. Clearly, the outsiders had been trying to use the Tohma Faiere before she and Karl interrupted. She made a noise of exasperation and, fixated on the ancient pendant, marched across the room to retrieve it. "Of all the irresponsible…I'm taking the faith stone back to the sanctuary---"

She stopped short of grabbing the faith stone only when she became aware of two things simultaneously: One, the faith stone lay on the disheveled sheets, and, two, at the moment said bed sheets were wrapped---none too securely---around Barrett's hips. Marion froze, mid-reach, and glanced up to see him watching her with amusement.

"Don't let me stop you," he told her.

Marion willed herself not to blush again. Judging by Barrett's smirk, she wasn't succeeding. David stood, nearly dislodging the precariously wrapped sheets with the sudden movement, the grasping the pendant's cord. He stared right into her eyes, his face inches from hers, and held out the faith stone for her to take if she wanted. He could have cared less if she took the damn meteorite, but her awkward embarrassment was entertaining. He saw a momentary flash of panic in her eyes, but Marion didn't back down. "You have no idea how much damage you've caused using the Toh---"

David shut her up: With one swift move, he leaned in and kissed her quite thoroughly. There was a muffled yelp of surprise from the future matriarch---and, behind her, a growl of extreme irritation from Scott.

"Am I still in the room?" Le Sage complained.

David pulled away from Marion and raised an eyebrow at the pack leader. "Oh, please."

Le Sage shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. Faking the whole 'jealous girlfriend' routine just gives me indigestion…"

Karl advanced on Barrett and grabbed him by the arm to pull him back. As he did so, the skybax rider's hand brushed the Tohma Faiere. He felt the light from the faith stone inside his head. It drowned out all his senses. The world around him went blue and new images filled his mind, playing out like a movie…no, he was living these visions…

_It was definitely a romantic setting. He was sitting on a riverbank, not far from the base of the largest of the falls in Waterfall City. Moonlight sparkled off the water; the combination of its glow and the light from the distant sunstone tower bathed the forest around him. The night sounds from the less-dangerous nocturnal creatures was almost musical. The mist from the falls hung in the air like a light bank of fog, adding to the feeling of seclusion. The city was no farther away than the top of the falls, but it felt distant, almost like another world. There were no 'topians, no outsiders, and (thank God) no brothers to horn in here. Karl's world was only here and now, this little spot by the river._

_The night---by contrast to the days on the island---was crisp and cool, and Karl could feel the breeze through the thin shirt he wore... _

…_which was not his skybax rider's uniform, Karl noticed. It was the loose-fitting style of garment preferred by the 'topian civilians. He stared at the tan sleeves covering his arm in fascination…and discovered a graceful, feminine, and familiar hand was clasping his own. He would have known her hand blind or in a blackout by touch alone._

_Sure enough, Marion sat beside him on the shore, her hand warm in his own. The moonlight made her light skin luminous and her already radiant smile even more luminous._

'_Sheesh, I'm turning into a sap,' Karl thought._

_He wanted to play it cool. Karl had rehearsed this conversation in his mind for days, but, staring at Marion now, the words went right out of his head. In fact, he felt like his brain had abandoned him altogether. He didn't want to talk, he wanted to be kissing her. Instead, he sat silently for a long while in fear that any attempt to speak might reveal him for the blithering idiot he felt like at the moment. Something in her smile made him think she knew how tongue-tied he was._

'_Come on, Karl, be cool here…oh, crap, she's saying something and I'm being a space case…'_

"_---lovely. How did you find it?" Marion was asking him._

'_Lovely…lovely place. This place.' Karl forced his brain back into action. "It reminded me of Tehema Falls back home…well, not exactly at home, it was at Camp Tehema. Dad used to send us there every summer. It was a great place up in the mountains. Tehema Falls was---" Karl managed to catch himself before finishing with 'the make-out spot'. _Some_ things about his past didn't need to be shared with his present girlfriend. "---er, everyone snuck up there when the counselors weren't around. 'Course it was a lot easier to sneak away when I became a counselor myself…"_

"_Every summer? You must have liked it very much. But why did you need a counselor?" Marion asked innocently._

"_Oh, no, not _that_ kind of counselor. They were supervisors, teachers I guess. It was a recreational camp. You go there to---well, mostly to swim and play tug-of-war and make wallets and lanyards and dress in politically incorrect Indian and pirate costumes. Jeez, that sounds lame even to me. You'll have to take my word for it that it's more fun than it sounds." This conversation wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. You just couldn't build a romantic mood talking about summer camp…_

"_I would have liked to have seen it---especially the pirate outfit. I'll bet it was very sexy," she grinned._

…_or maybe you could, Karl changed his mind. He took his cue to kiss her, and there went all the coherent thoughts from his mind again. "If you want, I'll make a pirate outfit and wear it right now," he offered when they finally parted._

_She laughed at that. "So, what was the 'big question' you wanted to ask me?"_

_That was Marion---always to the point. He wasn't nervous. He was sure that he already knew what her answer would be, but he'd had a whole speech prepared to sweep her off her feet. Since she had him on the spot, however, he'd just have to skip to the speech and go for broke._

"_Well…" She was waiting, looking only curious. If she knew what he was going to ask, she didn't show it. Why was he at a loss for words again? 'You are _not_ nervous, here, Karl,' he reminded himself. "…it's just, the Dawn Festival is coming up. I wondered---would you like to go with me?"_

_Marion's smile was instantly gone, replaced with a stunned expression. She stared into his eyes with a look on her face that he couldn't interpret to save his life. Shock? Surprise? If so, he hoped it was good shock. Was this awkward silence instead of good silence? The longer she stared, the more nervous he got. _

"_Well?" he prompted. A moment of doubt dampened his spirits. Had she already said 'yes' to---_

_Marion snapped out of her trance. "It's nothing. I just…I wasn't expecting to be asked. Not now, anyway."_

_He didn't know what to make of that answer. Really, she should know by know that if there was a dance on the island, Karl would ask her to go with him. Shouldn't she? He tried to keep the mood light to hide his nervousness. "Well, should I ask _after_ the festival? I mean, that's kind of crossing over from 'fashionably late' to 'absent' , isn't it?" he joked. "Why? You didn't think I'd want to be at the party with the prettiest girl on the island?"_

"'_The party'?" Marion parroted softly. _

_Karl shrugged. "You don't say 'party'? How about 'dance'? 'Hoopla'? 'Shindig'? What word do you prefer?" His good mood was fading fast. He knew the look she was giving him now. She used it on her students when they answered questions wrong even after she'd explained a concept over and over. It was…disappointment. He panicked a bit, wondering what he'd done wrong._

"_Karl, do you have any idea what the Dawn Festival is?" Marion asked with sudden, frosty calm._

_Yep, he definitely felt like his was back in her classroom now. "I figure it's like our Harvest Dances back home. Lots of food, lots of music, lots of dancing. You don't know this about me, but I was the best dancer at---" _

"_Back home," Marion repeated._

_Okay, he really wished she'd stop giving him that look. "---what? That's wrong?"_

_Marion stood up…that couldn't be good._

"_I won't go to the Dawn Festival with you, Karl. I'm sorry." She said no more. She only turned and walked away, leaving him sitting dumbly on the riverbank_

_Stunned, heartbroke, seconds passed before he belatedly realized he should follow. He jumped to his feet and chased after her. "Wait! Marion!"_

"Karl! Are you all right?"

The images ceased abruptly. Marion stood before him again, clasping something in her hand. _Pendant. Tohman Faiere_. It took a long time to remember that he was in Le Sage's chamber. Marion was watching him in concern. Standing beside her and Karl, David Barrett had a knowing look on his face.

"That---what the---" Karl stammered, staring at the now-dormant stone in Marion's hand.

Barrett nodded, sympathetic to Karl's disorientation "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Marion glanced from Karl to the faith stone. "Karl…the Tohma Faiere glowed for you," she told him.

"Oh, and by the way, I've changed my mind. You can keep the space rock," David offered. "Thing gives me the creeps."

The pack leader was fed up with the intrusion. Le Sage stamped a foot at her guards. "You wanna think about showing these two the door? And I don't mean my bedroom door."

At her bark, Le Sage's guards finally snapped into action. They lunged for Karl and Marion. Marion had the presence of mind to shove the faith stone into her vest pocket. When Bertram the guard lifted his hand to retrieve it, she socked him in the jaw. "Don't even think about it."

In the skirmish, another guard circled behind her and caught her roughly by the shoulders.

"Hey!" Karl tried to help, but more guards arrived, drawn by the shouts, and intercepted him. They were, unfortunately, as strong as the stink pouring off them. He couldn't break free.

"You don't understand!" Marion pleaded with David even as the guards dragged her and Karl into the hallway. It was taking three of the guards to make her move, as she had dug her heels into the ground to slow them down. "The faith stone created a different----get your hands off me!" Marion stomped on the foot of the nearest of her captors. He howled and hopped backwards a few steps on his good foot. Karl was still struggling against the men who half-carried him back towards the courtyard.

Marion was still appealing to Barrett. "David, we need your help to----"

David saw only sincerity, even concern, in her eyes. Without being aware of the action, he started to take a step after her as she and Karl were pushed out the bedroom door.

Le Sage got to the door first. Having heard enough, she slammed the door shut and locked it. The muffled sounds of the struggle and arguing from the other side eventually faded.

"They drop in often?" David asked her.

"You have no idea…" Le Sage rolled her eyes just mentally counting the times. She seated herself on the edge of the bed once more. "You do know that the dino-scout is going to be camped on our door step watching for you to fly out of here on that scalie of yours."

David grinned. "Know it? I'm counting on it."


	10. Chapter 10

9

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Dinotopia was almost beautiful when viewed from places like this little cove, Gabriel Dane mused. Gull's Bay and its stretch of beaches were a few miles from the coastal city of Zuru and was surrounded on three sides by high cliffs and the forest. The waters were a dozen shades of blue and the waves were gentle here. The endless thunderstorm that marked the barrier razor reef was so far away from this beach that it was little more than clouds on the horizon. The bay lay at the very edge of the sunstone's protection, close enough to its boundaries that the roars and noises of predators could be heard and made the men and women gathered on the beach cringe, sometimes even jump. Their eyes watched the cliffs above nervously as if half-expecting to see a T-Rex appear at the top at any moment. The white-haired pack leader was the only one not looking over his shoulder for predators. "I won't miss you, you scalie bastards," was all he said, and this was mumbled under his breath.

The carnivores were the rub that prevented the island from ever truly being "beautiful" in Dane's eyes. This island was not about beauty. It was about surviving the dangers hidden within the beauty. It was about fighting. It was about pain. He had a daily reminder of the latter in the form of the mangled, gruesome remains of his right arm. The island and its forests and hills were littered with the bones of the dead and the scalie traps Gabriel had spent a lifetime building and putting to use. Like the rest of the outsiders, he had grown up endlessly wandering Dinotopia, killing its predators on good days, running for his life and watching his fellows be killed in turn by the predators on bad days. Very bad days. "Fellows", his pack, his followers and nothing more, for he dared not allow himself the weakness of friendship no matter how much loyalty was shown him. If he hadn't learned as much already, his stump of an arm would have been a daily reminder that such weaknesses were invariable fatal. He would not allow this place to kill him. It had tried. It had sent death in the form of snapping jaws and flapping wings and traitorous followers, and he had survived, sometimes screaming, sometimes by the skin of his teeth and the mercy of angels. He had been tempered and reborn stronger and wiser by the pain of his brushes with death, but he had survived.

He loathed the island, the scalies, the scalie-lovers, and the giant space rock that had fallen to earth and created Dinotopia. He greeted each day by cursing the place. He even hated the cove for its deceptive beauty.

Gabriel Dane was ready to leave.

He kept his eyes on the bay and the object he couldn't see from the shore but knew lay beneath its waters. The object that was his last hope of salvation from this wretched place…if he could just get to the damned thing.

"I'm going to one of them restaurants the off-worlder was going on about. I want to try one of those…what did Barrett call them?"

The name alone made Dane grimace, though imperceptibly to the man standing beside him. "Steaks," he supplied the word.

Robere nodded. "Yeah. Steaks. What do you suppose they taste like?"

Standing beside Robere, Miguel answered, "Got to taste better than these damn, overgrown lizards. Ice cream. That's what I want to try. And 'teley-vision'. And cars. I never want to walk again."

"What about you, Dane? What do you want to try?" Robere was trying, as always, to suck up to the pack leader, this time by trying to bring him into the inane conversation he was having with Miguel. Today, Gabriel tolerated it because the snively, dim-witted duo had brought him interesting news about his submarine, and because he had no choice but to wait until his guest arrived from Zuru.

"I wish to sleep," Dane was surprised at his own honesty. "To sleep and know the carnies not wake me up trying to make me their breakfast. I try anything…long as I try it any place but here." That brought a murmur of agreement from the group.

Robere paced a bit. "He should have been here by now."

"It's a long walk from Zuru. You give him time before you start twitching, Robere," Dane reprimanded his underling. "If I know Payden…"

"If you know Payden what?" The deep voice boomed before the figure emerged from the undergrowth that concealed the trail down the cliffs.

Dane grinned. "…he sneaking about waiting to pop out like a scalie and surprise us. My friend!" Gabriel greeted Payden Borale with a vigorous handshake and slap on the shoulder, a respect he offered few people on the island, but then, there were no others beside the dark-skinned man who had saved Dane's life over and over. Borale Dane trusted unconditionally. "I begin to wonder if you show."

"Never doubt, at least not me," Payden reassured him. Borale glanced at the waters. "I thought your message was a joke, but I see I was wrong. You really think Cyrus' boat is here?"

Gabriel corrected, "Not 'think'. _Know_. I know it. I feel it in my blood."

"I will be damned," Payden said simply.

"Ah, you cannot be damned if you already in hell, my friend. I wish you change your mind and go with us."

"My family's here. My place is here." Payden fell silent, pondering the bay and the boat that was Dane's Holy Grail that lay beneath the water. "And, I have my doubts that you're going anywhere. Even if you do get that boat off the sea floor, I hear you don't have a power source for it." Payden glanced at Robere, who shrank back a bit, indicating just who had supplied Borale with that bit of information.

Gabriel patted the nervous lackey on his shoulder. "Robere tell me, too, what Barrett steal. That boy---I know he special from the first day he wash up on the island. To see him embrace his larcenous, double-crossing nature…eh, it fill my heart with pride and joy. Like my own son, that boy." Dane beamed. "Last night, I receive a message from our traitor David."

"Let me guess: He wants to trade you the power source for a ride on the submarine that you can't get off the bottom of the bay?"

"We teach him well. Not just the power source. Our friend wish to offer his help, and the help of that black hearted Le Sage, recovering our beautiful treasure from the water."

"How? Is Le Sage going to turn the water to ice with her frosty stare and walk out to the boat?"

"Hah! That, perhaps, work better, but no. You hear the stories about David and his scalie friend?"

Payden was rarely surprised, however, this was one of those times. He knew that David had crossed Gabriel by saving a pterosaur, but the boy couldn't stare down the side of a cliff without nearly falling over for vertigo. Payden had not believed the rumors of him actually riding around on one of those flying scalies, not for a minute. "The stories are true?"

"They true. The scalie, I think, pull the boat up nicely."

"You trust them?"

"Unusual circumstances, they call for strange bedfellows."

Payden was skeptical. He knew his friend too well to think that Dane would let the open defiance Barrett had shown---defiance that had split up his pack---go unanswered. "'To forgive is divine'?"

Gabriel's mood was suddenly deadly serious. His remaining hand fingered the sleeve covering his ruined arm. "To forgive is to be weak. To use my traitors for my own purpose be wise, yes?" He held up his mangled appendage. "I promise Barrett a visit to my hunting pits to repay him for this. After he make good on his offer to raise our boat, I make good on my promise."

Payden nodded slightly. That sounded more like his old friend. "If Le Sage and David don't have the same thing in mind for you after you deliver the sub," he warned. "If they have the boat and the power source---"

"Then why they need me? This occur to me as well. I ask you here to perhaps offer me a solution before I meet them?"

"I thought that might be the case." Borale fell silent, considering their options. "You need leverage against Barrett. That won't be easy to find. Like you said, we taught him very well. He knows better than to allow himself loyalties that can be used against him."

"But, he still have them."

"And he's cleaning them up…fast. Robere here saw Barrett talking to Alano yesterday at the Scott Tavern. It was right after Barrett stole the sunstone from the scalie-lovers. Alano hasn't been seen since. You can be sure Barrett told him to lay low just to keep him out of our reach. And Le Sage hasn't poked her nose out of that palace of hers since David showed up there last night. What about the girl? The matriarch's daughter? The one he rescued from you on the beach?"

"She would keep our scalie-lover friends at bay, oui. But, it's no good. She too well guarded. Anyway, I think Barrett save her to spite me, not 'cause he want her. He not so foolish that he trade his way home for one pretty chere. If we take her and Barrett have no feelings for her, then we wasting our time."

"I guess that rules out using Le Sage," Payden concluded.

Gabriel answered before Payden finished the question. "She have her pack between us and her. Besides, I think, for a ride off the island, she and Barrett would toss each other into the hunting pits." He added, "But, once I have the boat, she might overlook it if David had an 'accident' at the pits…or she might not. With Doris, you cannot tell. She give you loving kiss with poison on her lips, that woman. No, we need someone who Barrett _definitely_ protect for our leverage."

Robere, not daring to interrupt up to that point, finally spoke up. "I know."

"See? Robere agree."

"No, I _know_. I know a weakness of Barrett's…" Robere was mostly thinking aloud, growing more convinced as he turned over his idea in his mind. "…Yeah, in fact, it's a weakness I'll bet Barrett doesn't even know he has. And if I'm right, you grab this someone, not only will Barrett do whatever you tell him, the scalie-lovers will think twice about coming after you, too."

"You know for sure?" Gabriel demanded.

Robere grinned. "I know for sure."

"Who?" Payden asked.

Karl hadn't said a word to her since they'd been thrown out of Le Sage's castle. Granted, Marion wouldn't have heard a word he'd said with the wind roaring in her ears as Pterra carried them away from the fortress, but she could sense tension radiating from him and wondered about it. For her own part, she was disappointed. They had retrieved the Tohma Faiere, and she was grateful about that, but it wasn't good enough. They needed David's help if they were going to reverse its…'spell' she supposed was one word for it. Perhaps 'curse' was a better word. Yes, it was definitely that as well. The feeling of having had reality altered without being aware of what had changed or how the change affected her life was unsettling. She hadn't expected David to believe them, not at first. She'd hoped he would, yes, but hadn't expected it. Getting him to cooperate was going to be difficult enough, but it seemed they would have to remove him from the protection of Le Sage and her crew before they could even begin to convince him to help. That would be more than difficult, it would be almost impossible.

Almost impossible…but not entirely. The stone had glowed for Karl. She didn't know why—yet---but if there was any chance that the Tohma Faiere would work for Karl the way it did for David, then he could help them figure out what had been altered. At least, Karl could be trusted to tell them the truth and to cooperate in whatever had to be done to restore the timeline.

Or rather, Karl could help if she could snap him out of whatever was bothering him. By the clench of his jaw and the way he was avoiding her eyes, Marion knew Karl was feeling put out about something that had happened at the castle. Maybe it was the unanticipated contact with the faith stone. She'd find out soon enough.

She's find out sooner than she thought, as it turned out, because they didn't fly far. Karl guided Pterra to land atop the cliffs that overlooked Le Sage's hideaway. Then he jumped from Pterra, turned his back to Marion, and began scouting for a vantage point among the rocks and trees. Marion had expected that they would return to Waterfall City. They would need reinforcements if they were forced to take David to the temple against his will. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. Forcing anyone to act against their wishes was not a course of action the Dinotopians took lightly.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

Karl fixed his gaze on the castle below, still refusing to face her as he crouched behind the boulders. "We need Barrett to give us back the sunstone medallion and tell us how he screwed up reality with your faith stone, right? I'm setting up a stakeout. Soon as he sticks his nose out of that palace of Le Sage's, I'll grab him."

"We have to talk about what happened back there," she began.

"Nothing happened---well, 'cept for that horror show in Le Sage's room."

"I saw the Tohma Faiere glow for you, Karl."

He still wasn't looking at her, but she didn't miss the way he tensed at the question before he squared his shoulders and lapsed back into stony silence. His attitude baffled her---Karl always told her everything. Now was a strange time for him to stop. But, if he was going to be stubborn…well, she could be stubborn, too. This was too important. Marion collected her patience. _Better find out what's bothering him right now and resolve it._ "What did you see when you touched it?" she pressed.

"_I won't go to the Dawn Festival with you, Karl. I'm sorry." _

He was acting like a jerk, and he knew it, but he couldn't bring himself to even think of telling Marion what he'd seen when he'd touched the faith stone. The humiliation Karl had felt in the vision---or dream or hallucination---produced by the Tohma Faiere burned as hot as if Marion had really rejected him...that is, really in _this_ timeline. He didn't know what the images meant. Were they the 'reality', the 'real' timeline, like Noree and Marion said? Karl didn't see how that was possible. In that vision, he hadn't been in a skybax rider's uniform. He hadn't even known what a Dawn Festival was. _How was that possible? Was Karl, 'real' Karl, a freaking idiot in the other timeline_?

And Marion had said 'no'. Karl had asked her to the Dawn Festival and Marion had said 'no'. What if it wasn't a vision of the 'real' timeline---what if it was the Tohma Faiere creating a dream? A dream to warn Karl that he was going to get burned if he was dumb enough to ask Marion to the festival?

"…because if the Tohma Faiere glowed for you, it's possible you were there when our reality was changed…" Marion's words finally sank in.

Karl whirled now, adamant, "I don't care if it lit up like Fourth of July or the sunstone towers, there's no way I did anything with that rock in any reality. I couldn't have been there when the Tohma Faiere did anything because _I_ didn't have the damn thing. You're friend Barrett did."

"'My friend'?" she echoed. Comprehension filled her eyes and Karl instantly realized he'd let too much slip. "Karl, are you upset because David kissed me? You know he that was his way of goading you and distracting me from the medallion and the Tohma Faiere until those guards arrived." _Surely, Karl didn't think that kiss was anything more than David trying to upset them?_

"You looked distracted---and when did you two get on a first-name basis?"

Marion had the urge to scream for frustration. _Karl could be such a---what was Jack's off-worlder expression? 'Mondo-doofus'? _

It was true, Marion had been a bit taken aback when she'd seen…but she hadn't expected to find Barrett with Le Sage, not like _that_, when she'd barged into the castle. She simply didn't understand that particular outsider. He was very nearly as unpredictable as…well, as Karl. One minute he was stealing Marion's sunstone, the next minute he was returning the Tohma Faiere to her. He called the saurian populace "scalies" and made known his disdain for the island and its 'scalie-lovers', but he rescued Marion from Gabriel Dane and, from the sounds of it, saved a pterosaur from Dane's hunting pits. If Marion had been rendered speechless for a minute, it was only because she'd been caught off-guard, just like she'd been caught by surprise when David had robbed the temple. Somehow, after he'd saved her life, and the fact that a wild pterosaur would accept him as a rider, and after seeing such---kindness---in his eyes, she had expected more from the off-worlder than to find him stealing and…and…_cavorting_, and with Doris Le Sage of all people! Marion didn't often misjudge people so badly. She didn't know how anyone could have such kind eyes and the ability to form a telepathic connection to a pterosaur, and yet behave so reprehensibly…

By contrast, there was Karl Scott. Yes, he could get stubborn, but his…determination… was one of the reasons that Marion loved Karl. The problem was that his determination became inconvenient when it turned to bull-headedness, like it had now. Hadn't she made her feelings for him plain by now? She had been in love with him from the day she found him and Jack in that small coastal village. She had told Karl she loved him the day that he and Jack and Cyrus set out in that submarine. She loved that Karl could alternate between being the dutiful skybax rider and the unpredictable off-worlder. He could be rescuing people from rampaging T-Rex one minute and in the next minute do the most outlandish, un-Dinotopian things (in a good way)---like teaching Flippeau to play ping-pong and talking Marion into moonlight skinny dipping in the lakes and figuring out how to use sunstones to power broken radios.

At the same time, she also loved that, in spite of Frank and Jack's resistance and longing to return to off-world, Karl had made a home and a place for himself there on Dinotopia. He understood the responsibilities that Marion would be taking on when she became matriarch and had shown his capacity to take on such leadership responsibilities when he'd joined the skybax riders and helped save her people time and time again. She was certain Karl was planning to ask her to the Dawn Festival (it didn't hurt that Jack, never one to be able to sit on a secret, had all but blurted out that bit of information to Marion). It would be a good match, and Marion would say 'yes'.

So why was Karl in _any_ way jealous of the outsider and his nonsense?

"Karl." Marion took his face in her hands, gently forcing him to look her in the eyes. "It. Didn't. Mean. Anything. Do you trust me?"

_Crap_. Karl hated that question. He was the first to admit that he had insecurities where Marion was concerned, but it wasn't that he didn't trust her. If Marion said nothing was going on between her and David, Karl bel—okay, he _wanted_ to believe her, but his insecurities still got the better of him. He was sure that Marion believed that kiss hadn't meant anything----she was Dinotopian, and that made her naïve about some things. She was barely used to the rotten things that outsiders were capable of. She hadn't even gotten a taste of the things off-worlders could do…the bad things. Karl knew Barrett had rescued Marion from that Dane character, and—grudgingly---Karl even appreciated that one-time act of decency from the guy. Up until now, Karl had thought Marion stuck up for the creep out of gratitude for his saving her life. But, Barrett kissing Marion, and Marion's getting way too bent out of shape seeing Barrett with Le Sage…it had worried Karl. Was there something more going on between Marion and Barrett that she wasn't telling him?

He knew Marion was right---Barrett probably _was_ just trying to piss off Karl by kissing his girlfriend. Maybe it was god that Marion had seen Le Sage and Barrett together. Better that she find out now what kind of loser she kept sticking up for and give up any idea that there was a decent guy buried in that smug pain-in-the-butt. Maybe then she'd listen to Karl and lock Barrett up somewhere or let him go back to whatever sick and twisted relationship he had with the outsider queen, or better still let one of the outsiders drop him down a deep hole somewhere. David Barrett couldn't be out of both their lives fast enough to suit Karl.

Marion was waiting for an answer, and Karl gave the only answer that wouldn't get him in deeper with her: "Trust you? Yes." He had to add, "Barrett? No way." He laid his hands over her own and squeezed, forcing a smile he didn't feel.

She returned the smile, hoping that they'd resolved the issue of David Barrett and that kiss.

Karl started turning over the problem of the Tohma Faiere in his mind. "How could that stone glow for me? I mean, you said the faith stone was a 'one customer at a time' deal, right? So I couldn't have used it if David Barrett used it first, could I?"

Marion sat down beside him in the grass. "I can't explain it either. Somehow, you—the you in the other timeline---must have been there when Barrett used the faith stone."

"Makes sense. I was probably trying to arrest him," Karl smirked a bit.

"This may work to our advantage. You can activate the Tohma Faiere, you may be able to use it to see what David altered with it."

Karl shook his head. "I'm not touching that thing again!"

"Karl, please, it's better that it's you. I can trust you to tell me the truth about what you see," Marion reasoned.

Guilt bit at him, but he still couldn't force himself to tell her what he'd seen in his vision. "I saw---a riverbank, and some trees, and a waterfall. Nothing about changing reality."

Marion was disappointed. "That's a start. Noree knows the incantations. When we go back to the Sanctuary and she can guide you---"

Sudden activity in the castle below distracted Karl. He turned his full attention to the palace, watching as a dark figure climbed onto the albino pterosaur. "That's going to have wait. Barrett's on the move. Let's go." He said a prayer of thanks for the diversion.

Marion followed his gaze to the rider and dinosaur below. As she watched, the pterosaur leveled its head at David and gave a shriek of warning that was audible even at this distance. The noise startled some birds right out of the nearby trees. Marion knew that cry. She reached out to catch Karl's shoulder as he passed her. "Karl, wait."

"What?" he asked, impatient to be going.

"Listen. Something's not right." She pointed to the albino, which was bobbing its head in agitation. The dinosaur let out another wail and Pterra bellowed in empathy.

"Pterra! Shush! We're undercover here!" Karl patted his mount. He watched the scene below, listening to the tone of the albino's keening. He caught Marion's meaning. "I've never seen a skybax greet its rider like that. How about you?"

She smiled. "Never."


	11. Chapter 11

11

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Le Sage watched the comedy taking place on her castle walls with disgust. On the wall, Bertram was failing miserably to impersonate David Barrett. He could put on David's overcoat and probably fool those dino-scouts if they were watching (and she knew they were), but there was nothing her inept lackey could do to force the albino pterosaur to go along with the charade. As Bertram tried to approach, the scalie roared and batted its wings and bobbed its head in a clear warning: _Stay back._

"This is working well," she observed.

Beside her, hidden in the shadows of the nearby halls in case (as he suspected) the courtyard was being watched, David was thinking the same thing. He shouted to his uneasy skybax: "Freefall, you're killing me here! Would you knock it off!"

Wild-eyed, the pterosaur bugled in response. David could feel the dinosaur's distress. Bertram tried approaching again and the skybax snapped it's massive jaws. If the man had been a few feet closer, those jaws would have bitten his head right off his shoulders.

"That's it! Find someone else to feed to your scalie, Barrett!" Bertram tried retreating.

"Grow a pair, will you Bertram?" Le Sage waved him back to the pterosaur.

"_Freefall_!" David ordered.

The pterosaur unhappily ceased its struggle. Bertram reluctantly climbed onto his back.

"Thank you," David said to the dinosaur. Le Sage was right—if the dino-scout was fooled by this display, he wouldn't be fooled for very long. But it wouldn't take very long for him and Le Sage to sneak out through the tunnels beneath the castle. They just needed a few minutes to get across the clearing that surrounded the castle and into the cover of the nearby forest. "Okay, Freefall, do it just like we planned. I'll see you soon." He raised one hand in a gesture the trained riders used when they wanted their mounts to take off.

Freefall remained rooted to the wall. He turned his massive head to look back at his rider and keened a wail the likes of which David had never heard from his pterosaur. The distress he sensed from the dinosaur escalated to something stronger. Reluctance. Fear. It couldn't be afraid of Bertram---Freefall could buck mid-air and send Bertram plunging to his death if the henchman lifted a finger to hurt the dinosaur. Was it fear for David?

David tried to project encouragement through their bond. "Freefall, _go_!" He raised his hand in the proper signal again. The dinosaur hesitated, then leapt into the sky, carrying a shrieking Bertram with him. David watched until the skybax vanished into the morning sky.

Le Sage shook her head. "This isn't going to work."

The words were barely out of her mouth when a second pterosaur, with a figure in the distinct uniform of a skybax rider, screamed back the castle in hot pursuit of Freefall. David grinned at Le Sage.

"Don't say it," she advised him.

Minutes passed before the troop of outsiders emerged from the castle.

From the cliffs, Karl watched in extreme satisfaction as Barrett---the real Barrett---and Le Sage lead the pack towards the forest. "Nice try, Barrett."

They moved quickly across the clearing but without any particular effort to hide themselves. Why should they hide when the skybax rider had taken off in pursuit of 'David'? By now, fake David would have lead Pterra and Marion----who was now garbed in Karl's riding gear and doing a fine job impersonating him---halfway to Waterfall City. Karl figured turnabout was fair play. If Barrett could use a fake David to lure away his pursuers, then Scott could sure the hell send a fake Karl in pursuit.

The outsiders moved into the forest. From the cliffs above, Karl followed them, completely unnoticed.

Barrett wasn't getting away this time.

**6**

_His first memory upon waking was water, spilling into the shredded metal hull of a boat, of holding his breath as water filled his cabin, of swimming through turbulent water as the ocean tried to pull him under its waves and his lungs burning for air. The boat was gone…there had been a storm; the boat had hit something. David remembered being pitched across his cabin, feet first. He remembered the agony radiating from his ankle as he'd hit the wall…_

_His first sensation upon waking was the dampness of his clothes and the oppressive heat of the forest…and pain, like his head had been split open. David had weakly reached up just to check that his skull was still intact. There was a thick cloth wrapped around his head and it was sticky with blood and grime. When he'd finally opened his eyes, he looked down and saw another bandage wrapped around what had turned out to be a broken ankle. The leg was killing him, but the pain in his head was the more dominant at the time._

_He saw then the group of ragged faces, male and female, unshaven in the men's cases, staring down at him from their places around a miniscule campfire. A dark-haired woman was just tying off the bandage around David's ankle. Sensing his gaze, she met his eyes, scrutinized him with unsettling intensity, and finally smiled, first at him then in conspiracy at the other women of the pack, "Well, he's definitely an improvement over most of the pickings on this sinkhole. This one's mine, girls," had been Doris Le Sage's 'hello'. _

_Le Sage stepped back as one of the men---a tall, lanky blonde with a grotesque scar down his cheek---crossed over to where he was lying flat on his back and beamed a smile full of yellow and brown teeth down at David. "Well, well, look who back among the living. You have a nasty smack, but that happen when you try to cross the Razor Reef. Gabriel Dane is my name." Dane kneeled beside him and clapped the younger man roughly on the shoulder. The impact sent a jolt of pain through David's injured skull. "Well, safe with us now, no worries. Lucky we find you before the scalies do."_

_Razor Reef? Scalies? The throbbing ache in his ankle and head was doing nothing to help David make sense of Dane's cryptic remarks. "Sc---scali--?" _

_"You be that one's lunch if we not come along." Dane had pointed to a huge, winged creature lying in a dead heap among the trees and underbrush. It had been impaled on a spike the size of a small tree, which had swung on ropes like a pendulum from the trees. _

_It was David's first memory of seeing a dinosaur and of the handiwork of Dane's traps. Unfortunately, it would not be his last memories of either…_

David felt déjà vu as they emerged from the forest onto the small plateau. The ground sloped down to the large rocks on the white sands of a beach. A knot of figures were gathered near the top of the slope, some were lighting torches and some were digging pits and piling wood for fires into the holes they'd made. They were the same faces that had stared down at him the day of the shipwreck, although some faces were conspicuously absent. Some---people he had considered friends during his brief time in their midst---had been lost to the scalies. David didn't want to think about them. He had nightmares to remind him of how they'd been lost. Maybe when he got home---far, far away from this place---the nightmares would stop.

"_This is most important lesson---the pack come first. The slow, the sick, the injured… they get left to take their chances w' the scalies if it come down to that."_

_That hadn't been good news at the time, as David was hobbling on improvised crutches as fast as his injured ankle would allow. Gabriel's people didn't so much as slacken their pace in deference to their new and wounded member. David was exhausted. His head was spinning and his ankle was killing him, but the distant roars of the T-Rex and God-knew-what-else reminded him that it was extremely important that he not get separated from the pack on sprints between safe zones like the ones were making that afternoon._

_Gabriel continued, amiably lecturing around a mouthful of what looked like a pear, "Not a man or woman here don' have the bollocks---so to speak---for a scrap w' the scalies. You just remember, the scalies try to cut you from our herd soon as they sniff that blood." Dane pointed to the bandages on David's head and leg. "If we run, we not slow down, and if one of us get left behind, we'll expect no less from you."_

_David had argued, "Leave someone to die? That's pretty cold-blooded…"_

_From nowhere, Payden Borale appeared. David didn't have time to react before the large man landed a brutal kick right on David's bad ankle. This was followed by Payden's elbow slamming into David's nose. The leg, radiating agony, gave out and David collapsed. He bit his lip against a scream that might have drawn predators---or worse, given Payden any sort of satisfaction. _

_Borale knelt beside the younger man then and grabbed him by the throat until David could barely breathe. "You got a head full o' rocks right now, so I'll remind you: Never question our orders. Not out here. We live by the scalies' laws here. You know well as any of us, there's no blood colder than scalie blood. Best get your priorities straight if you want to stay alive."_

_Someone in the pack screamed: "Pteranodons!"_

_At the warning, Payden forgot his lecture. He glanced up at the dark shapes in the sky, his mouth set in a grim line. Then, he hauled David up by the scruff of his neck and all but dragged him further beneath the canopy of trees. He shoved the younger man, not at all gently, into the cover of the forest's undergrowth where Dane had crouched. Grasping bone daggers and spears, the group watched as the carnosaurs passed overhead, circled a few times, and then streaked away._

_When the patrols were gone, Dane faced David again. "There just one more thing… those 'topian cities with their pretty sunstones and all them happy people spouting off 'bout livin' in harmony w' the scalies gonna sound real appealin' soon. They make you one of them. They make you think you love this island. They make you think the scalies got rights. And they never, ever gonna let you leave this island. Never. You want find a way home, you stick with us. We want to go, too. Well, 'cept Payden…" Gabriel grinned at his friend. Payden inclined his head slightly in return. "He like it here. We find a way off this island together. Until then, Better a scalie's dinner than a scalie-lover, right?"_

_David blinked. "Er, I guess…"_

"_Ha!" Gabriel clapped David's shoulder, affectionately this time. "Mates to bend an ear with, wide open space, no one tell you 'You are of the Earth, you are of the Sky', free to come and go as we please---wouldn't live any other way." He helped David to his feet. "Come on. We'll go over which plants be fit to eat again. Wouldn't want you getting chomped 'cause a case of Tuklooberry trots let a T-Rex catch you…"_

Others had followed Le Sage when she'd abandoned this pack to take leadership of her own group. David had to be grateful for that, especially as he walked from the cover of the trees onto the open space of the beach. Le Sage's group was behind him, he didn't have to look back to know they were there. David wouldn't have dared wander into Dane's turf without the protection of Le Sage's pack. It was only their presence, unseen though they were, and the fact that they outnumbered Dane's group, that kept Gabriel's pack from ripping David apart as soon as his boots hit the sand. A few of them, David knew, had tried to kill him in the past three months---with poison, with poorly aimed arrows, with pathetic snare traps, and with boulders, their efforts as successful as Wyle E. Coyote trying to catch the roadrunner, fortunately for David. They might be inept assassins, but that didn't make them less dangerous. The bone daggers tucked into their shirts, boots, and belts were reminders of that.

The most dangerous member of Gabriel's pack, however, was conspicuously absent. As Gabriel's pack parted, making a path for the duo, David tried to be subtle about scanning the crowd for that particular face. "Do you see Payden?"

Walking beside him, her hand on his arm, calm and confident as always, Le Sage might have been strolling through a park instead of into the territory of her enemy. "No."

"Hmm."

The hand on his arm squeezed slightly in response. "What? I thought you were hoping he wouldn't show," she reminded him.

David frowned. "I changed my mind. If Payden's going to try to kill me, I'd rather see him coming."

And then the sea of people finally parted enough to reveal their leader.

Gabriel Dane looked exactly the same as he had those first few weeks when David was part of his pack. Instead of walking to meet Barrett and Le Sage, the pack leader was crouched beside a small campfire, casually drinking what David new what the island equivalent of moonshine from a small flask and smoking a cigarette that smelled more like native island hallucinogens than tobacco. He wore the same duster and boots, which Dane swore were made of the skin of a dino-crocodile. The fact that 'topians found the use of dinosaur skin for clothing repulsive made it all the more appealing for Dane. He bragged about every article of clothing that he'd made from dinosaur hide and had told David the stories of how he'd killed those scalies in his hunting traps that had made the hair on the off-worlder's neck stand on end. David had seen Dane in action often enough to know that those stories were not exaggerated. Surrounded by his pack, looking like a prehistoric cowboy, projecting assurance and intimidation that made everyone do his bidding, fearless in the face of scalie rampages, Dane had seemed larger than life.

_What a difference a few months make._

Dane hadn't changed…except for one thing. David's gaze traveled to the sleeve that almost concealed Dane's mangled arm. The stories he'd heard about that arm hadn't been exaggerate either. It was hideous.

"_Barrett!"_

_Dane wanted David to know he was closing in---the hunter wasn't dumb enough to shout (especially with carnosaurs in the vicinity) if he intended to sneak up on his quarry. The pack leader counted on the mere sound of displeasure in his tone to keep his pack in line---to put the fear of God into them. Until the mutiny that afternoon, that tactic had worked well. When it hadn't, a harsh word would be reinforced by swift, spectacular violence visited upon whoever defied Dane. As the one who had let the pterosaur out of the net, the one who'd saved the 'topian girl, Marion, from Dane, and the one who instigated the mutiny, David was sure the pack leader had the 'swift, spectacular violence' in mind for him. It had followed whenever David had questioned him in the past five months._

_He'd have to catch David first---and David intended to be the only one doing the trapping from that day on. He knew this part of the forest well---it was Dane and Payden's hunting grounds. He'd led the pack leader this way deliberately. No longer corralled in this part of the forest by the sunstones' powers, the carnosaurs had fled, but the traps remained just as the duo had left them. Lungs burning in protest, David scrambled as fast as he could, trying to put just a little more distance between himself and Gabriel, buy just a couple more minutes. He knew the overconfident older man would not hurry…Dane would want to torment his prey before exacting his revenge. If David could just find the pits…_

"_Come now, son, we talk this out, you and I," Dane called. "Perhaps I forgive your lapse in judgment…"_

"…_and perhaps you won't," David muttered. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see if he could spot the pack leader. The distraction cost him---his foot caught a rock on the leaf and twig-blanketed trail and he fell face-first to the ground_

_The earth he lay on exploded in a shower of leafs and dust and David saw teeth coming right towards his face---teeth filling the jaws of one seriously ticked off T-Rex, still young and not fully grown but dangerous nevertheless. The snapping jaws missed only because David reflexively lifted his face from the ground. He had fallen face-down atop one of Dane's hunting pits. The only things that prevented the scalie trapped in the pit from devouring David were the bars that sealed the top of the pit. It was a deep pit, but it never would have held a full grown T-Rex. It had been a pit where Dane and Payden destroyed carnosaur eggs and very young T-Rex, and the knowledge made David's stomach churn. _

_He rolled off the grating onto the dirt, heart pounding mercilessly from fear and from oxygen-starved lungs. The T-Rex jumped at the bars a few more times before giving up. It keened unhappily as it skulked around the cage._

"_This was a bad idea." David didn't blame it for being angry---Gabriel and Payden had, only an hour ago, been tormenting the creature in preparation for killing it. David's encountering---and rescuing---the pterosaur had interrupted Dane's plans and drawn him away from this pit. Now, David just needed to figure out how to let the critter out of the trap without it eating him instead of Dane._

"_David!" Dane's voice was much closer now. David hadn't bought as much time as he'd hoped. He had to hide---but the disturbed leafs and dirt were going to point the pack leader in David's direction as clearly as a neon sign reading: 'Secret Hiding Place Here'. David ran for the undergrowth beside the trail…_

_Sure enough, Dane paused at that exact spot. He spat into the pit and the baby T-Rex took another lunge at the bars, howling its rage. Dane wasn't ruffled in the least bit. His eyes followed the path of scattered debris and dust as though following markers that pointed to the nearby underbrush. "I think you leave me breadcrumbs to follow…I teach you better than to make such a mess, boy, so you must not hide in the brush. Or maybe you know I think you not be so dumb as to leave a trail to where you hide, so you hide there to fool me. Maybe I jus' make sure…" Gabriel drew his blade and hacked relentlessly at the bushes._

_David watched, perched on a branch in the trees directly above Dane and the pit._

_Positive that the younger man wasn't in the bushes, Dane sheathed his blade. "If I want someone to look this way…" He pointed to the shrubs. "…it be because I go…." Dane stared up into the canopy of branches, spying David easily. "…up there. Bravi, you do pay attention, son"_

"_Don't call me that."_

_Gabriel clutched his chest, looking hurt. "What I do that make you turn against me?"_

"_You want the whole list? Let's see---you tried to get me to kill scalies by chaining me up as bait for the carnosaurs. You used me for a punching bag for letting that skybax go. You left Paiva and Jerrald to die when we were cornered by that Pteranodon and all they did was save my life. Remember them, Dane? They were my friends," David growled._

"_There are no friends in the packs. Friends are your weakness. Your weakness get you killed. I do what I do to make you strong. The strong survive. I teach you to survive. You know this. I say also the pack come first. You know this, too, eh?"_

"_Gabriel 'come first'," David said._

"_So, you bring me here to use my own traps on me, oui?"_

"_That was the idea."_

_Dane grinned. "I always like your…irony…David." He drew his knife again. "You not trap me now. So, you come down…we see if you learn to fight better than you learn to bait."_

"_I'm going to say…no," David refused._

"_I have time. You do not."_

_The roar of the rampaging carnosaurs belied Dane's words. A shadow of one dinosaur gliding high above passed over the trail. "Listen to the scalies, Dane. They'll be here soon. You don't have as much time as you think. You should let this go," David advised._

_Dane shook his head. "No, this I cannot do. I be weak, no pack follow me then."_

"_You take things too personally…it's not healthy." David hid his nervousness, trying to form some sort of plan to get out of this mess._

_Then a miracle happened. David saw it before Dane did---or rather, David _felt_ the presence drawing nearer even before he saw the dark form appear in the sky. He didn't know what to make of the sensation as thoughts and emotions---curious, angry, protective, and definitely not human---touched his mind. He'd never imagined he'd see a day when he could tell one scalie from another, either, but this winged dinosaur with the albino hide was already proving an exception. Where 'Freefall' came from or why he came back, David didn't know, but the skybax's return gave him hope of surviving this ill-conceived plan._

_The pterosaur dove at the pack leader, raking its claws across Dane's shoulders as he glided past the man. Dane screamed---and dropped the dagger. Freefall circled around for another pass. Dane ducked for cover to avoid another impact with the creature or its razor-sharp talons. Meanwhile, David dropped from the branches, a new plan half-forming in his mind as he ran up behind Dane. He reached for the grating covering the pit and the T-Rex and pulled with his last ounce of strength. _

_As if sensing what the human boy had in mind, Freefall swooped down at Gabriel again, but instead of making another flying pass, the pterosaur landed in front of Dane, putting itself between the pack leader and his weapon. Freefall beat his wings at the human, driving Dane back for the pit even as the bars to the cage started to slide open. A howl was the only warning as the small T-Rex propelled itself from the pit and leaped straight at its tormentor, Dane. The last thing David saw as he ran was the scalie's teeth tearing into the pack leader's arm..._

Dane rose from his spot by the fire, crushing out his cigarette and capping the flask, as David and Le Sage approached. The presence of the flask bothered David almost as much as the M.I.A. Payden. Gabriel wouldn't allow himself to lose control of his faculties, even a little bit, unless he was feeling very secure. Even though the nearby sunstone would keep them safe from carnosaurs, With Le Sage's pack surrounding his own, outnumbering his own people, knowing that David had the medallion that powered Cyrus' submarine, the last thing Gabriel should have been feeling at the moment was secure. If Dane had reason to think that he had the upper hand, David for damn sure wanted to know what that reason was.

"You still alive, Barrett, because it made me very curious, your message," Gabriel was blunt. He pulled at a cord around his neck. A large, pointed tooth hung from the cord. "The scalie that take my arm leave me his tooth…"

"Yeah, uh, sorry about the arm," David said.

Dane ignored him. His glassy-eyed gaze shifted briefly to Le Sage, looking her up and down with undisguised lust. David tensed, wondering if he'd have to intervene, although it wasn't like she couldn't handle Dane on her own. Le Sage didn't bat an eye, but the corner of her mouth curled upwards in a warning that Gabriel understood even in his alcohol-induced haze. He tapped the cord again. "…There plenty of space beside it for her black heart…and something of yours, too, Barrett. Where my medallion?"

David raised an eyebrow. "Where's Payden?" he countered.

"You give me my medallion and perhaps you not see Payden," Gabriel offered. The implications of that remark made David's blood run cold. _Just where was Dane's buddy…what were they up to?_

"How about the medallion and help getting Cyrus' submarine off the bottom of the bay in exchange for a our lives and a ride off the island? Would that take your mind off the, er, arm?" David asked.

Gabriel stared into the younger man's eyes, anger and something unreadable in his gaze. Finally, he nodded. "For that, I would consider your debts repaid in full, yes. But you hand it over now." He held out his hand expectantly.

David ignored the gesture. "I want your word, Dane. No offense, but you have sent at least half of them---" He indicated Dane's pack. "---after me in the past month." He fixed Robere with a glare and the smarmy henchman fidgeted nervously.

Standing beside Robere, Miguel stared at the ground, "Sorry about the Chaymyn root in the salve, by the way."

David was impressed. "That was _you_? Nice work."

Miguel shrugged. "You're just saying that. It didn't kill you."

"No, don't be modest. I was lucky. Really, I never expected that one. Had hives for two weeks…I thought that peddler did it 'cause he found out about me and his dau---" David felt Le Sage's nails dig into his elbow. "---never mind."

"That was principle. You not kill the scalie like I tell you to. You understand, I had to kill you. No one defy me and not be punished," Dane answered.

"Since that scalie is going to pull that boat off the sea floor, it's a good thing I didn't," David pointed out.

"So it is." Dane's jaw twitched ever so slightly. "Our escape more important now. Lucky for you, the only thing that make me forget about this---" He held up his mangled arm. "---be that pretty medallion you steal. I give you my word: You help us, I not kill you."

Le Sage interjected, "What about the word of the hygienically challenged here?" She nodded to the pack.

Dane chuckled at that. "Their word as well. But you place me in a delicate position. What assurance we have that _you_ not kill _us_ once the boat be up? There more of you than of us. You give me your word---you _both_ give me your word."

She grinned. "Don't worry about us trying to kill you---having principles is too much work for me."

Satisfied with that, Gabriel extended his palm again. David hesitated. Dane was still calling a truce too easily for his liking. Le Sage was here with her pack, untouchable for all practical purposes. Al was on the other side of the island, the medallion still under his guard, well beyond Dane's reach. But Dane's readiness to forgive---and Payden's absence---was rapidly turning David's apprehensiveness into outright dread. He met the pack leader's gaze, trying to read in his expression just what other trump card Dane thought he was holding. Gabriel's face was a mask. David hoped his own features were just as unreadable.

"How about we get the sub out of the bay, see what the damage is, and then we'll talk about bringing out the medallion?" David suggested.

Gabriel's hand went to his belt, and for a moment David tensed in anticipation of Dane going for his bone dagger. He could feel Le Sage tense and knew she was equally anxious beneath her calm façade. Seconds dragged by. When Gabriel took a step closer, David took a step back. But, instead of drawing a weapon, the pack leader draped a hand on his shoulder in his usual gesture of approval.

"Our boy is a man. You beat me to the sunstone---you steal it from under the nose of the scalie lovers. You use smoke like I teach you, yes? Then, you cover your tracks like I teach you. I break your neck, but I too proud of you." Dane patted him on the back. "We go to see the boat. Just me and the two of you…no advantage then. We catch up…"

"_Skybaxes_!"


	12. Chapter 12

8

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Karl was as close to the pack as he could get without breaking cover. Barrett, Le Sage, and her group of Outsiders had traveled on foot, so the skybax rider had followed them on foot. Dad was right---they had headed to a beach near Zuru, quite a long walk from Le Sage's palace. The forest ended a few hundred yards from a plateau that sloped down to the beach. It was the exact beach Marion had said---the one where Karl, Jack, and Cyrus had gone off in the latter's submarine to find sunstones. Another group of Outsiders was waiting in the clearing. Karl couldn't follow when Barrett and Le Sage stepped out into the open space to meet them without being seen, so he stayed put, crouching among the underbrush near the edge of the forest.

This second group of Outsiders made Le Sage's pack look like clean-cut choirboys by comparison. A lanky, scarred, scary-looking man wearing clothing that just had to be made of dinosaur hide moved to meet Barrett and Le Sage halfway. Karl had never seen him before, but was pretty sure the blonde was Gabriel Dane. Dad was right about him, too---he didn't look like someone to screw around with. Even Barrett looked nervous upon seeing Dane, Karl could see it in the young Outsider's eyes, even at this distance. Karl was glad that he'd ordered Pterra to fly Marion back to Waterfall City once she was done playing decoy at the palace. Marion would _kill_ him when she found out, since she was expecting Pterra to bring her back to Karl so she could help catch Barrett, but Karl didn't want Dane getting his hands on her again any more than he wanted Barrett around her…maybe even less.

_How was he supposed to cut the Outsider from his pack long enough to arrest him?_ Karl turned over the problem in his mind. There were way too many Outsiders, between Le Sage and Dane's packs, for Karl to try to snatch Barrett. Pterra was supposed to rendezvous with Romana, which would be his wingmate's cue to bring in the cavalry. Until they got there, Karl had no choice but to sit tight…

One of the Outsiders pointed to the sky. "_Skybaxes!_" Karl heard him shout.

All eyes, including Karl's, turned skyward. The horizon was dotted with the shapes of pterosaurs…at least a dozen. He grinned. The cavalry was almost here. Now, it was just a matter of finding the opportunity to get to David Barrett, stick his ass onto a skybax, drag him back to Waterfall City, fix whatever that space rock had messed up, and Karl would be glad to never see the man again after that…

The Outsiders were heading towards the tree line, towards the cover of the forest---all of them except Gabriel Dane. The blonde turned to face the oncoming riders with a fearlessness that unnerved Karl. He was as unconcerned as a man waiting for a bus, not like a man facing a small army of pterosaurs.

"Nobody moves!" Dane barked. His men obeyed at once, but didn't appear to share his confidence. Dane waved for Barrett and Le Sage, in particular, to stay in their place on the ridge. "Let them come."

Dane snapped his fingers. Immediately, the Outsiders carrying torches used them to light the bonfires they'd prepared. Thick smoke billowed into the sky…thick green smoke. It had created a haze like fog along the shore by the time Romana's pterosaur and the other skybaxes arched towards the beach.

"What are you doing, Dane?" Karl whispered to himself.

He got his answer as soon as the skybaxes hit the plumes of smoke. The pterosaurs recoiled from the smoke like mosquitoes avoiding citronella candles. Romana's mount bucked wildly, nearly pitching her off its back, trying to do a one-eighty back out over the open water to get away from the smoke. Around Romana, the other skybaxes were veering wildly, disoriented, and the riders were suddenly more concerned with staying aboard the dinosaurs than with the Outsiders. Dane beamed at his handiwork, and his pack and Le Sage's cheered wildly…all except Barrett and Le Sage. The Outsider queen crossed her arms and shook her head. Barrett frowned and bit the corner of his lip, almost giving the impression that he shared Karl's concern for the riders, except that Scott knew better than that.

_Someone was going to get hurt_…Karl had to do something, and he didn't have a clue what it should be. Not sure how to help, Karl rose from his crouch and headed towards the beach…

…only to find himself staring at two of the particularly scrungy Outsiders.

"You're noisier than a herd of T-Rex, boy. We heard you follow us all the way from the castle," one sneered.

_Someone was going to get hurt._ David watched as the dino-scouts wrestled with their skybaxes while the creatures fought to escape the offensive, acrid smoke of the fires Dane prepared especially to repel them. Some of the riders had the sense to turn back, but one or two were stubborn and kept circling back, seeking a path around the smoke. He recognized one of them as the rider who'd been flying wingmate to Scott when David had stolen the sunstone medallion.

"Dane---let's go, there's no reason for this," David protested.

Dane fixed him with a glare. "You bring them here, Barrett?" The underlying threat of what Gabriel would do if that were the case was clear in his tone.

Barrett rolled his eyes. "Sort of---they want the medallion, what do you think they want?"

"How they know to find us here?" Dane demanded.

"Like _I_ know!"

"Let go of me! You're breaking about a million laws here!" A voice, tight with indignation and fear, shouted. David, Le Sage, and Dane turned to see Miguel and Robere dragging Karl Scott into the clearing.

David groaned, "Sonuva…"

Le Sage chose to be amused. "He's persistent, I'll give him that," she said to David.

"Idiot. The word is 'idiot'," he disagreed.

Gabriel stared at the kicking, outraged skybax rider without an iota of intimidation. "You know that one?" he asked Barrett.

"…and I should warn you---I'm a skybax rider!" Scott tried to sound threatening. The Outsiders belly-laughed at the warning.

David shook his head. "I could have told him that wouldn't help."

Miguel and Robere dragged Scott to stand in front of Gabriel Dane. The kid obviously recognized the Outsider. He blanched, just a bit, but did his best to hide that fear and to sound authoritative. "Put those fires out! You don't want to be responsible for injuring a skybax, I guarantee it." The pack laughed harder at the feeble attempt at a threat.

Gabriel blinked, mouth set in a scowl as he stared at the younger man. In answer to the command, Dane snapped his fingers again. Their merriment ceased abruptly and his pack scrambled to retrieve spears and bolas that had been buried beneath the dirt or covered by fallen branches and seaweed. Those not armed with pikes and slingshots drew their bone daggers. They formed a circle around the skybax rider. Karl was now surrounded by—the center of attention of---armed and very unhappy-looking Outsiders.

Dane had to lean down a bit to stare Karl directly in the eye. Karl smelled alcohol and decay on the man's breath and tried not to cringe. Drunk and armed wasn't a good combination for a villain…on Dinotopia or anywhere else. "Skybax, T-Rex," Dane shrugged, "It make no difference. A scalie is a scalie. One scalie kill as good as another…" He nodded, and the Outsiders armed with the spears and bolas moved to the edge of the plateau and took aim at the flailing skybaxes, including Romana's mount as Karl's wingmate guided her skybax below the smoke towards the beach, attempting to land.

Karl knew at that moment that he was dealing with a psychopath. Cold terror squeezed at his chest, made his blood run cold. Scott couldn't stare into Dane's eyes: The lack of emotion, the insanity, burning in those eyes made his skin crawl. For reasons Karl couldn't explain, his gaze shifted to Barrett, who had been watching the men and women with the weapons. Sensing the skybax rider's stare, David met Karl's glance.

The armed Outsiders waited for Dane's signal. When Gabriel raised his arm to give the command, Karl snapped out of his fear and struggled against the hands holding him fast. "No!"

Gabriel drew his own bone dagger, raising it towards Karl's throat. "…and one scalie-lover kill as good as another."

Karl's eyes were on the dagger that was about to end his life. He didn't see anything else, so he was unprepared when something suddenly slammed into him and tore him from the grasp of his two Outsider captors. He felt himself lifted from his feet by his collar and pitched in the direction of the plateau's edge. Then he was rolling, stopping near the edge of the downslope. The armed outsiders had to step aside to avoid being knocked over by the teenager. Flat on his back and disoriented, Karl looked up to see David Barrett advancing on him.

"_Get out of my life, Scott_!" Barrett was snarling.

David hadn't known what else to do when Dane drew that blade on Scott. He wanted off the island, but he didn't want anyone killed in the process…not even Frank's irritating skybax rider offspring. Dane would kill the kid now that he perceived the skybax rider as a threat to the medallion, to the plan to escape the island. Dane would have killed the kid just for kicks. David knew that. And Scott, the stubborn fool, didn't have the sense to know when he was in over his head and stay away. He wasn't going to give up…

…at least not until he caught David.

With a plan only half-formed in his mind, David had acted. In two steps, he moved from behind Dane to snatch Scott by the collar. Miguel and Robere had been so unprepared that they'd let go at once. The Outsiders had formed a circle around Scott, effectively boxing him in, so David flung the younger man bodily so that the pack had to get out of the way or be mowed down by a rolling skybax rider. The diversion delayed the Outsiders with the spears and bolas from attacking the pterosaurs---no one in the pack would pass up a fight. Luckily, they wouldn't interfere with one either. That's what David was counting on if he was going to save the little twerp's life.

He knelt on one knee and grabbed Karl by the collar again, dragged him to his feet. "I've got enough problems without having you on my ass every time I turn around! Are you a freaking idiot? Do you _not_ get the situation here? You think _I'm_ bad news? Believe me---you do not want to screw around with this group! Didn't your matriarch girlfriend warn you about them?"

The mention of Marion sent another surge of jealousy through Karl. Flushing red, forgetting everything else, he shoved Barrett away, "Get off me!"

Barrett advanced on Karl again, backing him towards the downslope.

"I want that medallion…and then you're coming back with me so that we can fix whatever you screwed up with the fa---" Karl ordered.

A short distance away, Gabriel was watching. "How about _we_ keep the medallion and we make sure you not bother our boy, David, again?" Menacingly, he ran his thumb lightly along the length of the bone dagger.

David grabbed Karl again, spinning Scott so that the 'topian's back was to Dane, Le Sage, and the rest of the pack. "You _are_ an idiot! How do you and Frank share DNA! I'm sure the hell not going back to Waterfall City. I don't know where your medallion is…" David glanced over Karl's shoulder and his eyes met Le Sage's, speaking to Scott but nodding imperceptibly at her. "…but I swear to God, if Freefall wasn't in Rock Cove, I'd fly you out to the Razor Reef and drop you there myself!"

Le Sage hid her smile from Dane. She returned David's subtle nod.

David spun Karl again and gave him a shove towards the edge of the slope. Karl shoved back, eyes blazing anger. "_Don't touch me_!"

Barrett had Scott's number now. With a malicious grin, David reached over and shoved the skybax rider's shoulder. Karl lunged, putting the Outsider into a headlock. David hooked Scott's leg with his own and tossed him back to the ground, but Karl wouldn't relinquish his grip on Barrett's neck and dragged David to the ground with him. That worked just as Barrett had planned: Wrestling the skybax rider, David rolled towards of the slope, tugging Scott along with him to the edge and then over. Both tumbled, head over heels, down the slope…

…_and for a moment, the fleeting glimpse of blue images filled both of their minds with uncomfortable déjà vu. Barrett had the sensation of hands gripping him by the throat, was staring into Scott's eyes, blazing fury then as well, and saw his own hands grappling with Scott. It was Karl Scott, clearly, the only difference being the younger man was in civilian garb instead of his uniform…and David saw that he was clad in the woeful clothing of the 'topians. In the vision, the two of them were on a small balcony, intent on throttling each other, until they managed to trip over the railing in a tangle of arms and legs and fell…way, way down. The balcony overlooked a waterfall, and the two of them plunged the length of the drop until the impact with the river below knocked the breath from David's lungs…_

This time, the drop was much slower and gentler. Barrett and Scott rolled down the short downslope onto the beach below. Smoke blanketed the beach like a noxious fog, stinging their eyes and burning into their lungs until both the Outsider and skybax rider were hacking. And still, they grappled.

Romana had managed to land her resistant pterosaur on the sand not far from the two combatants. The skybax wailed unhappily, even more sensitive to the smoke than the humans, but stayed put only at her unwavering urging. She saw her wingmate struggling with the outsider and ran to help. Before Barrett knew what had happened, two arms—petite but strong and definitely belonging to another skybax rider---inserted themselves between him and Scott and took a grip on the front of the Outsider's shirt. A leg hooked David's and he felt himself lifted away from Karl. Next thing he knew, he was on his back staring up at Scott's wingmate.

"Wow---nice move," David praised.

Romana beamed. "Thank you."

Karl wasn't finished. In a flash, he was back on the Barrett, intent on whaling the tar out of the Outsider who had caused so much trouble. Romana threw up her hands, giving up on separating them. David reflexively started to ball his hand into a fist, but couldn't quite bring himself to throw a punch. He tried instead to pry the kid's fingers from his neck.

Karl snapped. "I've been wanting to throw you down the deepest hole on Dinotopia since the day we met…"

The Outisder grunted, "You need a life, Scott…you're not getting…that I'm trying to…save your life here!" David squeaked out the words from a severely constricted throat. He'd saved Karl from getting his throat cut right on the spot, got him away from Dane temporarily, but he had to get the dino-scout's ass off the beach and into the air. For that matter, David had to get his own ass off the beach. He could always escape from the 'topians later---it wasn't as if he hadn't done it a dozen times before. When he had Frank's son out of the line of fire, David could always find his way back to the pack and justify his actions as using himself as bait to get the dino-scouts off Dane's back. But they had to go _now_---the smoke wouldn't conceal them from Dane and the other well-armed pack members standing on the plateau above the beach for very long.

"You're not interested in helping anyone but yourself, Barrett!" Karl said.

Then a whistling sound cut through the air and a spear imbedded itself in the dirt. It had missed Karl and David by inches. Scott forgot his intentions to strangle the Outsider and scrambled away from the pike in case another one followed. "Jeezus!"

Through a break in the smoke, Karl, David, and Romana saw Dane, Le Sage and the other Outsiders staring down at them. Le Sage and Dane were arguing even as Gabriel waved his arms and shouted orders at the men and women holding the spears. The Outsiders hefted their weapons again. Romana ran for the skybaxes.

David smirked at Karl. "_See_?"

Scott was open-mouthed. "That guy is psycho!"

"Think so?" Barrett rolled his eyes.

"You sure they aren't trying to kill _you_, Barrett?"

"Not entirely sure, no…" David followed Romana. Karl wasn't far behind.

Le Sage grabbed a spear out of Dane's hands before he could pitch it down at David and the dino-scouts. "Hey, bright boy, Barrett's on _our_ side," she reminded Gabriel.

"We need our medallion. If they take Barrett, we have nothing…no way off this island," Dane rationalized.

Le Sage smiled, "I know where the medallion is…" 'Rock Cove' David had said. He'd been saying more than Dane or the 'topians knew. "…and if you kill the dino-scouts, this island's going to be crawling with more of them---all looking for _you_."

Gabriel hesitated. There was disdain, directed at her, in his snarl. "You get soft, Doris."

She crossed her arms. "Don't bet on it. Barrett's only good for keeping those dino-scouts out of our hair right now…but not if you kill him. He's what they really came here for, not us, they think he has the medallion. If you let them take him, they'll leave us alone and we can pick up the sunstone and then get your sub. As long as we have the submarine and the sunstone, the dino-scouts can keep Barrett as far as I'm concerned."

Dane mulled that, and finally lowered the spear. "You always practical, Doris." He snapped his fingers and his pack members lowered their weapons.

Le Sage's smirk returned, "Well…"

"What?"

"A little more—encouragement---might get the dino-scouts out of here faster," she suggested.

More spears whistled through the air, narrowly missing Karl, David, and Romana as they raced to the pterosaurs. The Outsiders may have been throwing blindly, since smoke obscured their vision, but they were doing a helluva job for shooting blind. Seeing the peril to their comrades, two more riders approached the beach and urged their pterosaurs down.

"You're coming back with us, Barrett," Karl ordered.

_No, I thought I'd stick around and let Dane turn me into a shish-ka-bob,_ David thought. "Yeah, yeah, I'm under arrest, I know, Marshal Dillon. You really are a pain in the butt, Scott," he said.

Romana and two other riders were waiting to give Scott and Barrett a lift. David chose to climb on the pterosaur piloted by Karl's wingmate---if he had to ride double, practically on top of a stranger, it might as well be with a pretty stranger. "So," he greeted her, flashing a wide grin, "any more like you back at the base or do they all look like Scott?"

"Don't get cute or I'll break you like a twig, Barrett," Romana warned, smiling back nevertheless.

Karl didn't miss the way his wingmate was looking at the Outsider and groaned inwardly. _Et tu, Ro?_ "Unbelievable…" he muttered.

Dane watched as the dinosaurs carrying Barrett and the scalie-lovers banked skyward and glided out over the open water, away from the pack. He signaled for the pack to let them go. Doris was right---for now, they needed Barrett to keep the scalie-lovers busy.

"Robere?" Dane summoned the lackey. Robere joined him at once. "I think you be right about Barrett's weakness," the pack leader said quietly.

"So, you don't want me to call off Payden?" Robere asked, surprised. He'd assumed that, since things had worked out well with Le Sage and Barrett, Dane wouldn't need their…contingency plan.

Gabriel was stoic, "We have our sunstone…but I not finished with Barrett yet, sunstone or no sunstone. You send messenger bird to Payden. Tell him to do just what we planned."


	13. Chapter 13

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**7**

Alano had no idea where Freefall had been before the dinosaur rendezvoused with him at Rock Cove, but there was a coat that didn't belong to David tangled in the ropes Barrett used in lieu of a saddle. "What happened to the owner of this?" Alano had asked the pterosaur. "You didn't eat him, did you?"

The pterosaur had beat its wings one time, the wind generated by the sweeping motion almost knocking Alano over. "I hope that wasn't a 'yes'."

"Maybe David would like to be the one sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere with no one but a scalie for company---no offense." Alano didn't want to tick off the huge dinosaur. "Wish you could tell me what he's up to."

There had been nothing to do but wait. Alano had been sitting on a hill in Rock Cove for a full day now, bored to tears, wondering if Barrett had already gotten himself killed by Gabriel Dane or Doris Le Sage before Freefall had showed up. He didn't know why David wasn't with the pterosaur and wished for a moment that he had his friend's ability to communicate with the beastie just so Freefall could tell him what was going on. It was too soon to give up on David, but Alano hated waiting.

"I'll bet he'd sit here for five minutes before he decided to go into hiding at a nice tavern instead. Some place with a fire. And food," Alano continued his monolog while the ptearsaur watched impassively. "Crossing Gabriel Dane again…why do I listen to him? I should have pounded David into the ground the first time he messed with Dane is what I should have done. For his own good. Knock some sense into that off-worlder brain of his."

Freefall turned his massive head towards Alano and made a sound like a growl.

"Oh, don't get that way. I'm just thinking out loud, that's all. I don't mean nothing by it. But David should know better than to trust---"

"Le Sage?" The woman in question asked.

Alano spun to find Doris Le Sage and her pack standing at the bottom of the hill. He scowled at the pterosaur. "Well, thanks for the warning!"

Freefall whuffed innocently.

"Where'd you come from?" Alano asked her. "Where's David?" His friend's absence made Alano that much more nervous.

"Where's the medallion?" she countered.

_David had told her that Alano had the sunstone? He must have---how else would she know who had it and where Alano was hiding if David hadn't told her? _Alano's problem was trying to determine if David had told her because he wanted her to retrieve it, or told her right before she stabbed him in the heart and came to steal it---and if so, was she moments from stabbing Alano as well. "I asked where David is, woman," Alano snapped.

"Keeping the dino-scouts entertained," Le Sage explained as she climbed the hill. "What? You don't trust me? Where's the medallion?"

"What medallion?" Alano asked.

A knife pressed to Alano's neck and a voice that could only be Gabriel Dane's whispered in his ear: "Don't be cute with us."

"Back off Dane. You need to learn some trust. Alano was about to hand it over---weren't you?" Le Sage held out her hand.

Alano handed it over to her—what choice did he have? Gabriel pulled the knife away from the large man's throat. "If you've crossed David…"

She wasn't intimidated in the least. "You'll do nothing. David can take care of himself." She turned her attention to the pterosaur. "Will that smelly pile of dinosaur hide obey you?"

Freefall 'growled' in warning. The pack raised spears nervously, thinking the pterosaur was about to attack. Alano held up a hand to hold them off. "He'll obey me just fine." He gave Freefall a glare of warning, just so the pterosaur didn't do something stupid that would get them both killed on the spot.

Le Sage nodded. "Good." She addressed Dane. "Where's the boat?"

He held out his hand. "Give me the medallion."

"See ya," she turned on her heel and started to march away. Dane's pack raised their weapons to stop her---only to instantly find themselves staring at the blades belonging to Le Sage's own pack.

"Very well…you a stubborn woman, Doris," Gabriel conceded, not in a position to argue. Her pack still outnumbered his; he couldn't take the medallion from her by force. "Follow me…and bring the scalie."

Freefall beat his wings. Alano knew what it wanted to do and grabbed the rope around its thick neck. "Just you wait, beastie. David's not in any danger if he's with the scalie-lovers. He'll be all right. Worry about us for now."

The saurian Keeper had been alerted to the recovery of the Tohma Faiere. Noree was waiting when the strange procession reached the Temple, holding the glass box in her claws, ready to receive the gem. Marion took the stone from its pouch, careful not to make direct contact with it as she did so, and carefully replaced it within its container.

"Thank the ancestors. Well done, Marion, Karl. I was afraid that outsider would---_gah_!" Noree let out a yelp when David, flanked by the saurian guards, followed Karl, Marion, and Romana into the temple. "_You_!"

David grinned, enjoying her reaction immensely. "Doesn't anyone just say 'hello' anymore?"

Noree clutched the box protectively, making sure to keep it well away from the outsider's reach. "Pah---the sooner we figure out what you've done to violate our faith stone and set it straight, and send you back to your ch'kra blasphemers, the better…" She was rather petulant, but then, she was still suffering the effects from the smoke bomb the outsider had lobbed into the Temple to steal the Tohma Faiere.

"Noree!" Marion interrupted.

The Keeper's harsh glare softened. She made a visible effort to collect herself. "Yes, you're quite right, that wasn't a very kind thing to say. I apologize."

David shrugged. "I've been called worse."

"No, Noree, we have another problem…Karl, show her," Marion explained.

Karl hesitated---not anxious for what he knew was coming---and waved for Noree to open the box. Noree offered the stone with a look of confusion and suspicion. Karl reached inside and gingerly touched the meteorite with just one finger.

It flared to life, and again his vision went blue.

_The storm raged. Karl had done everything his father taught him, but somehow he'd steered the small aircraft into the squall. It had come from nowhere, inescapable and deadly, assaulting the plane like a living thing, tossing it up, down, and sideways, trying to dash it to pieces in the turbulent ocean below. Their dad wrestled with the controls, trying to keep the plane aloft, but Karl saw real panic in his eyes. He knew they were going down even before their father warned them to buckle up. It seemed a waste of time---Karl knew enough about aviation to know that hitting the ocean at high enough speed wasn't any different than hitting concrete. _

_The plane sputtered one last mechanical breath and died completely. His stomach did a flip-flop as the craft plunged, nose-first, towards the black water…_

Mercifully, the vision didn't last long. Marion reached out and pulled Karl's hand away from the stone. The light winked out at the loss of contact.

"Oh dear…" Noree said.

"What were you were saying about 'violators'?" David smirked. Marion stepped between him and Karl before the skybax rider could respond.

"Th---that's not---I mean---you prayed to the Tohma Faiere?" Noree asked.

Karl protested, "I never touched it!" _If that outsider doesn't stop smirking, I'm going to deck him._

Noree closed the box. "We'll see about that. You'll both---" She turned her reptilian head to indicate both Karl and David. "---have to participate in the ritual if we're to get to the bottom of this."

"Ritual?" David held up both hands. "Wait a second. Look, if you're talking about anything involving burning incense or smoking weird plants or wearing weird costumes or drinking weird potions or having to like wear nothing but feathers and dance around to a bunch of tribal drums…well, hell, count me in."

"I'm going to hit you," Karl warned.

The outsider wasn't fazed a bit. "Repressed."

"SIT!" Noree boomed, thumping her long tail to get their attention. She guided them to the benches, which had been arranged to form a square at the center of the temple. The temple's sentinel towered above them. Karl and David took a seat on benches opposite of each other. The outsider raised an eyebrow at the statue. "I know this guy---fought Godzilla and Mothma, right?"

Noree paid no attention. She sat on the stone floor between the two humans, at the foot of the sentinel statue. The Keeper opened the Tohma Faiere's case and began an incantation in her saurian dialect. Karl and Marion listened with strict attention. Karl closed his eyes when Noree instructed him to do so. Noree glanced impatiently at David when he didn't move a muscle.

"Can you try that again in English?" he requested.

"What's wrong---don't know Saurian, Barrett?" Karl asked, opening just one eye.

David extended a hand and made a distinctly off-worlder gesture with it. "I know sign language, Scott."

Noree and Marion simultaneously cleared their throats. Marion translated for the Keeper: "The Tohma Faiere's gift is enlightenment. Through its power, we can insight to those things which have been, those things which are, and those things which might have been. It's gift was abused by those who believed it had the power to grant the heart's fondest desires, to recreate the world as they would have it. Those who do not understand its true powers still pray to it to grant their wishes and reshape reality."

David raised an eyebrow. "You guys aren't serious with this 'reshape reality with a space rock' crap, are you?" Marion and Noree gave the outsider scolding glances, and he obediently shut up. "I guess you are." _All right, just play along…whatever gets you out of this scalie temple and back to the submarine the fastest…_

"Those who abuse its power are marked by the stone---it will glow at their touch…as it did for both of you. The spell that was created by both of your prayers to the rock…" Marion continued her translation.

"_I did not pray to that rock_!" Karl and David said in unison.

"….must be undone by both of you. That which you have changed with its power is illusion and the illusion must end. You will close your eyes, put your hearts and your minds at peace---"

"Oh, brother." The outsider mumbled.

"---and seek to discover the life which the Tohma Faiere has given you and the life which it has taken away. Both of you, touch the Tohma Faiere at the same time."

To make sure they did so, Marion grabbed their wrists and physically wrapped their hands around the faith stone. The Tohma Faiere's light flared with renewed brilliance. Beams of light radiated out and slammed into Karl and David like balls of lightning. The impact knocked the breath out of both of them and sent them flying from the benches into the clay walls, knocking them cold.

"What happened?" Marion was torn, undecided which one to help first. Noree and Romana quickly moved to check the outsider while Marion did the same for Karl. Both were unconscious, whether from the stone's power or the impact with the wall, Marion wasn't sure. She lifted Karl into a sitting position, propping him against the wall, and laid a hand against his forehead, using her innate empathic abilities as her mother had taught her to determine that the skybax rider was dazed, but not injured.

"The ritual failed," Noree pointed out the obvious.

_Yes, I can see that… _Marion moved now to check on the outsider. A moment's touch told her David, like Karl, was stunned but otherwise unharmed. "But, you said it would work if everyone who prayed to the stone…"

The Keeper nodded. "Yes, that is precisely what I said."

"I don't understand---you mean someone else used the Tohma Faiere?" Marion guessed.

Noree gave a very human shrug. "That can be the only conclusion."

"Who? Le Sage, maybe?"

"I do not know." Noree indicated the unconscious David. "But _he_ might."


	14. Chapter 14

91

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Alano had never seen a 'submarine', not even a picture of one. He knew that they were off-worlder machines and that they were designed to carry people beneath the ocean just like fish. The only pictures of such machines were hidden in the bowels of the 'topian libraries, well beyond the reach of outsiders like him. So, he hadn't known what to expect when he saw the submarine that rested at the bottom of the cove.

He thought it looked like some giant metal fish---a metal fish with a hollow belly and many little teeth marks dotting it, as though a larger fish had taken bite out of it. That was probably accurate---the rumor was that, in the days when the sunstones had failed, the traitorous 'topian Cyrus had tricked Karl and Jack Scott into using Marion's pendant to power the submarine and taken them to the underwater caverns of the island, where they'd found an abundant supply of sunstones…and where Frank Scott had been stranded since the plane crash. Cyrus had abandoned the Scotts there, but not before the boys sabotaged his submarine to prevent his escape. The sub had stalled halfway to the surface and been swallowed whole by a dino-fish---along with the traitor, Cyrus.

_Must have given the large beastie a belly ache for it to have spit the thing back out more or less in one piece,_ Alano mused. He didn't have much time to ponder Cyrus' fate. He was working against the tide and on as much air as his lungs could hold. He was among the divers who had dove from the boat Gabriel Dane had provided and swam to the bottom of the shallow waters where the sub was stuck. With the help of Dane and Le Sage's men, Alano found a few places on the sub's exterior that looked solid without being jagged enough to slice through a rope. Needing to resurface for air, it took a few tries for the divers to get the ends of four ropes secured to the sunken vessel. They finished without much time to spare. Soon the sun would set and the high tide would put this cove and the pier underwater.

Once the last rope was in place, Alano resurfaced and climbed into the waiting boat, drained by the exertion.

On the shore, the two packs were dividing their labor. Some were laying traps along the perimeter of the cove just in case some predator braved the sunstone pendant Le Sage wore and ventured too close to the camp. Others had made small fires and were cooking the afternoon meals. Dane's men, Miguel and Thomas, and Le Sage's lacky, Bertram, were tying the other ends of the ropes to a massive harness. Freefall was perched on rocks at the top of the cliffs, watching the proceedings. The pterosaur looked to be getting impatient, Alano noted. He could sympathize. The sooner this bit of business was over with, the sooner Alano and Freefall could get back to Waterfall City and spring David from the 'topian's prison.

The harness was ready to go by the time the boat returned to the shore. "I hope this bloody well works," Alano said privately to Le Sage.

"It will," she said confidently.

Together, Miguel, Thomas, Bertram, and Dane hefted the massive collar up. Alano raised his arm the way David had shown him and shouted to the albino dinosaur, hoping the temperamental scalie would comply with the command. They weren't trained pets, after all. Freefall barely obeyed David. It took a minute, but, finally, Freefall sprang aloft and glided down to the beach and landed near Alano. More than a few outsiders still gave the scalie a wide berth.

They slung the harness around the pterosaur's neck. "Here we go-it's up to you, beastie," Alano tried sounding encouraging. Le Sage and Dane's men took up positions beside the four ropes, lending their strength to the scalie's.

"Pull!" Dane shouted.

"Pull, Freefall," Alano took hold of the ropes as close as he could without risking getting the way of Freefall's powerful wings or carried off the ground when the dinosaur once again became airborne as it used the strength in its body and wings to pull.

It took a bit of work, even with the pterosaur's help; Alano was drenched in sweat, muscles screaming in protest at the abuse. Freefall was showing signs of fatigue. But, finally, the sub took its first slide from the sandbar towards the deeper water and freedom. The plan was working.

"My friends---I give you our ticket home." Dane grinned to the chorus of cheers from his pack. "Come, now, keep pulling! She's almost free. Pull! Pull together!"

_"Pull! Pull together!"_

_The summer camp tradition-the tug-of-war between the rival cabins of Camp Tehema--- was in full swing directly above the stinkiest mud pit the camp had to offer. Fourteen-year-old Karl Scott had no intention of doing a face-plant in that disgusting mud, not after a summer of the butt-munches in the blue cabin (the 'Pirates') beating his cabin (the 'Dragons') in every camp competition…and especially not when the girls from Camp Tehema were sitting only a short distance away, watching the competition while they swam in the lake._

_In particular, not while Mandy Petersen (a.k.a. the most gorgeous girl in Camp Tehema/the state/the country/the world) was watching. If that weren't distracting enough, she was also wearing a very wet camp t-shirt that clearly revealed the outline of the skimpy two-piece bathing suit she had on beneath it. That only reminded Karl of the very soft skin beneath that very skimpy bathing suit, skin he'd had a length opportunity to feel first-hand last night when they'd both sneaked out of their cabins and had a moonlight skinny-dip in that same lake---_

_So, of course, it had to happen---the rope jerked, throwing everyone on Karl's side off-balance. Being near the end of the line and therefore one of the anchors, he tried to regain his footing before he lost his balance altogether. That was when two very familiar feet tripped him up. Karl stumbled into the boy in front of him and the rest of the team went down like dominos. His brain warned him to let go of the rope before it was too late, but his hands refused to obey._

_It was amazing how quickly the smelly mud pit came sailing up to meet him as the rope dragged the lot of 'Dragons' across the grass and into the pit. He heard cheers from the 'Pirates', but only distantly. Karl was busy noticing that the mud was now covering him from head to foot and was just as vile up close as it had first appeared. Judging from the look on Mandy's face as she watched, she agreed._

_He didn't need to ask what had happened or who had tripped him up. It was some consolation that, with his face caked in muck, no one could tell that Karl was flushing bright red as he crawled out of the ooze._

_Yep, there he was, Karl observed, sitting on the grass where he'd tripped---and where he'd tripped Karl after losing his grip on the rope. He didn't even have the decency to fall into the mud like the rest of the team. Not that it mattered---the slime-covered members of the red cabin were making a point of pitching mud onto him as they walked back to camp. A few grumbled, "Nice work, Scott" at Karl's brother._

_"That's great, bro, thanks," Karl added. "Do me a favor? Next year, stay home!"_

_It was no real insult---his brother had made it quite clear that staying home for the summer would have suited him just fine. Dad was the one to insist that they both go. "Oh gee, Karl, I'm so sorry I embarrassed you in front of your flavor of the week," his voice dripped sarcasm as he looked at Karl, then at Mandy. He dragged an arm across his own face, wiping away mud, only to have more 'Dragons' dump more of the foul stuff on him._

_"Karl?"_

Oh no,_ Karl groaned. It was Mandy. She was jogging over to him, still grinning. Or, rather, he thought she was grinning---he wasn't exactly looking at her face at the moment. She used the corner of that clingy t-shirt of hers to dab at a glob of mud on his face. _Okay, maybe doing a nose-dive into the slime wasn't such a total loss._ "Don't feel so bad. In California, people pay lots of money for a mud bath." _

_Karl gave Mandy the million-dollar-smile. "Maybe you could wash it off at the waterfall this afternoon. My friends say there's a nice pool at the bottom…"_

_Behind her, Karl's brother stood, shook his head, and trudged back towards to the cabins, grumbling, "Oh brother…" He gave Karl a look of complete disgust as he left…_

…_but it wasn't Jack's face._

_It was David Barrett's face._

"_Karl?"_

"Karl!' Someone was shaking him and he wished they'd stop. He was trying to open his eyes to see who it was, but the blue visions were stronger and tried to draw him back into his own memory. "Karl! Wake up!"

At Marion's command, reinforced by her empathic healing abilities, Karl jerked awake. He felt the blue visions trying to pull him back, but resisted with all his might. Marion and Noree were still hovering nervously nearby, but he'd been moved from the main hall of the Temple to a cot in one of the small rooms. His body felt like he'd just gotten the shock of a lifetime.

Marion sat on a chair beside the cot. "Are you all right?" she asked, relieved that he was finally conscious. He'd been under for hours now.

"Think---my teeth---are vibrating," he answered slowly.

Smiling at that, she helped him sit up. "The ritual didn't work. You both got a nasty shock from the Tohma Faiere. You've been out most of the day. Noree thinks there's still another outsider who used the stone, that's why the spell wasn't broken."

"The Tohma Faiere revealed nothing to you?" Noree fretted.

"Just…bad dreams." Karl tried rubbing the tingling feeling out of his aching fingers.

Marion and Noree's interest increased. "Dreams? About what?" Marion asked.

"Er---" No way was Karl going to tell his girlfriend that he'd been having dreams about an alternate lifetime where he was some oversexed skirt-chaser. That just couldn't be true. A nagging voice in his mind urged him to tell her about the other vision, though, about David Barrett being Karl's br—

No, that couldn't be true either. It just couldn't.

"---old camping trips, nothing to do with Dinotopia or magic rocks. Sorry."

"The ritual should have revealed what is different, what was changed by your prayer to the faith stone. Are you sure---"

"I DID NOT PRAY TO THAT DAMN ROCK!"

Noree backed up a step from the human, ruffled by his outburst. Marion admonished, "Karl, calm down. I'll speak to David if he's awake…the Tohma Faiere at least showed Karl memories, maybe David saw something that can be of use. I might be able to convince him to tell us who else used the faith stone."

"No," Karl stopped her. After what happened at Le Sage's, he didn't want her near the outsider. The idea triggered another surge of jealousy---'unwarranted' or not. At Marion's confused look, he explained, "I'll talk to him." He pushed himself off the bunk, ignoring their protests that he needed to rest. "You're right, Noree, the sooner we straighten this out and send him back to the pack, the better."

Karl should have dismissed the whole situation outright.

It was absurd. He'd read his share of sci-fi novels and this would have made a good plot for an episode of "Star Trek" or a Disney movie, but it wasn't the sort of thing that happened in real life. _Then again, dinosaurs and humans co-existing on an uncharted island shouldn't happen in reality either, but here we are._ Still, logic told him to reject the whole 'Tohma Faiere altered the timeline' theory, and he would have, but for one problem:

Dinotopians didn't lie. Period. Outsiders? Sure. Off-worlders? Absolutely. Even Karl had, when necessary, told a few white lies to the sometimes naïve island folk. Hell, he'd just lied by omission when he hadn't told Marion and Noree what he'd seen when the faith stone zapped him. But, born and bred Dinotopians like Marion, Noree, Rosemary, and all of them…no, they didn't lie. It went against their utopian principles, their code for living.

Therefore, if the Dinotopians said that one of their magic meteorites had changed something in Karl's life because it glowed like a traffic light at his touch, they meant it and he'd better believe it---logical or not. Certainly, Karl had seen chunks of the meteor do things that were unusual---bordering on supernatural: White sunstones that kept carnivores away from the populated areas, green rocks that attracted said carnivores like cats to cat nip, and so on. So, a blue Tohma Faiere could alter reality and one's memories of said reality? Okay, it wouldn't be the strangest thing he'd ever seen one of the meteorites do…but it would be pretty close.

Therefore, no matter how Karl turned over the situation in his mind, the conclusion was the same: Sometime and in some way, that blue rock had done something to mess with him---with his memory at best. At worst…

Karl hesitated at the door to the sanctuary chamber where the outsider was being kept. A wave of doubt crashed over him. Blue memories forced themselves once again into his mind…

"_There's a real nice pool at the bottom of the falls. No one knows about it. You just get to the bend near Lark's Crossing and there's a path that leads right down to it. They won't even notice we're gone." Fifteen-year-old Karl was trying hard not to sound too desperate, but they were almost to the crossing and its detour. He was running out of time to convince Valerie Delano to ditch the co-ed hike and take a side-trip to the falls. If he didn't get alone time with her now, there'd be no more opportunities before they returned home next week. Besides, Karl knew for a fact that Jim Walker had been trying to talk Valerie into a midnight trip to Camp Tehema's boathouse._

"_Sounds nice," Valerie agreed, cheeks just a bit pink. Karl was so surprised that it took a minute for him to process what she'd said._

_Karl and Valerie were at that spot by the falls, isolated from prying eyes by the trees and undergrowth of the forest, roar of the falls drowning out all noises, in the middle of a make-out session that definitely had potential to go further…then Valerie had broken off their activities abruptly. She jerked away from Karl, and for a second, he wondered if he'd ticked her off or done something wrong. He tried to recall how far up her t-shirt his hands had been wandering before she'd pulled away. Had he gone too far? _

_Then he saw what had drawn her attention---Counselor Troy (a grizzly bear of a forty-eight year old man and butt of jokes from every 'Star Trek' geek in Camp Tehema, including Karl's nerdy brother) was standing over them. The sounds of his approach had been muffled by the roar of the falls. Better still, it looked like half of the campers who'd been on the co-ed nature hike were standing behind him. Half were snickering, half were applauding, until Troy yelled for them to "zip it". Troy stared at Karl quite pointedly until the teen realized that his hands were still in a telltale position under Valerie's shirt. He withdrew his hand immediately. Valerie was bright red._

"_Scott! The nurse wants to see you back at camp. Now!" Troy barked. Karl knew what was coming even before the counselor added, "Your brother's sick." The word 'again' Troy didn't throw in. "See me when you're done with the nurse---you and Ms. Delano have tons of work to do in the mess tent for the rest of your stay with us. Move it!" _

_Karl remembered hoping that he wouldn't die of humiliation on the walk back to the camp---he wanted to strangle his brother first, just as soon as he stopped at the nurse's cabin and made sure that what could only have been another asthma attack hadn't finished David off…_

The whole situation was like an exercise from a Philosophy class: _Am I the dream of another man and if so will I cease to exist when he wakes up_? If the Tohma Faiere had done what Marion and Noree said it could do, then which life was real?

This one, with Jack, Marion, and the skybax corps…or the one the faith stone had showed him?

That other world---bouncing from girlfriend to girlfriend, being the outdoorsman, the sportsman, actually being friends with his father---didn't seem plausible. Karl had never liked spending summers at Camp Tehema or dad's excursions to whatever adventurous place caught his attention that year. Karl was the geek with his nose in a book, was never into sports or competition. And being a Don Juan? _Yeah, as if_! If the Tohma Faiere had changed him from being those things, Karl was personally all for it.

Then there was the last image the faith stone had showed him…

_"You ruin everything!" Seventeen-year-old Karl bitched._

_"I'm sorry if free-climbing up a mountain with a very long drop onto very sharp rocks isn't my idea of a great vacation," his brother retorted._

_"You never want to do anything Dad and I want to do! Why don't you just stay home? At least then our trip doesn't have to get screwed up 'cause of your asthma or 'cause you can't handle heights or 'cause you just want to piss off Dad!" _

_The tirade rolled right off his sibling. David brother didn't even look up from his book, knowing the fastest way to get Karl's goat was not to get sucked into a fight with him. Karl couldn't even see his brother's face to know if he was getting a reaction with that textbook in front of it. Dad had given up on making peace between the boys and disappeared into his own tent hours ago. "Fine with me…although it'd be tough to give up the evening belching contests and watching you trying to beat your own record for how many local skanks you can feel up in one week." _

_"Hey, at least I'm in the game! I'll be the closest thing you've gotten to making out with a girl is rescue breathing the Resusi-Annie dolls in CPR class."_

_"Is this the part where I'm supposed to get offended or try to punch you or something stupid like that?" David closed the textbook, muttered something about 'family vacations', and began throwing dirt on the small campfire. _

_"You know what?" Karl continued, "Read your book---spend all week in the tent if you want. First light, Dad and I are going back up the mountain. You can stay here and maybe next Christmas, Santa will bring you a backbone."_

_"For the last time..." His brother pointed to himself. "Jewish."_

_"I swear, I don't even believe we're brother sometimes---"_

_An angry shout came from their father's tent: "Karl and David! The two of you knock it off and get your butts to bed! Now!"_

In the blue visions, it was fourteen-and-a-half years old David, no mistaking it, his face caked with mud, sitting on the grass at Camp Tehema.

It was fifteen-and-a-half years old David in the nurse's cabin following another of his asthma attacks.

It was seventeen-and-a-half years old David, looking quite fed up, with Karl in the tent.

Not David Barrett. David _Scott_.

It wasn't just the notion of someone who'd been a thorn in Karl's side since he'd washed up on the island potentially being Karl's _brother_ that bugged him. It's just for that to be true…and it couldn't be, it made no sense…something more than Karl's personality had to have changed.

Someone---Karl, David Barrett, or the yet-to-be-identified-other party who'd used the faith stone---had wished away Karl and David's being brothers. Who would change that? Why? If someone _had_ screwed with him and his family, whoever did is was going to pay for it.

The stone glowed for David _and_ Karl.

David was wearing a skybax rider's uniform in one of Karl's visions. Karl stared at the sleeves of his own rider's tunic. Or was it his? If David was the skybax rider in that timeline, then what was Karl?

And who did Marion love?

More questions flowed through his mind: Was Karl really meant to be some horny self-centered ding-dong? Was David Barrett supposed to be some bookworm/nerd and Karl and Jack's brother? A dinotopian like them? Karl had a bitter laugh at the very idea of the obnoxious outsider trying to fit in with the peaceful island people. Most of all, _why_ did someone change their lives so?

_Did I change it just to get this uniform? To get Marion? _That possibility bothered Karl more than he cared to admit. No, he would never do something that rotten…not in this lifetime or any other. Karl was sure of that.

The doubtful voice still nagged at him. _What about the other Karl? The 'real' Karl? Maybe _he_ would have_. If so, Karl had even less desire to go back to that 'reality', to being _that_ guy…

He sighed. _A guy could get a migraine trying to figure this out._

Karl found the outsider stretched out on his back on a small cot, hands behind his head, staring at the clay ceiling and its saurian inscriptions, lost in his own thoughts. Barrett was pointedly ignoring the saurian guard who stood beside the door. However, at the sound of footsteps-the light gait of a human---he reluctantly turned his attention to the newcomer. Karl tried to read David's reaction to his arrival to see if the outsider betrayed any hint of what he'd seen when the faith stone zapped him. Barrett's expression was stoic, but his eyes were full of suspicion, even hostility.

_His eyes are the wrong color. He's supposed to have dad's eyes_, the strange thought came to Karl unbidden, and he hurriedly pushed it out of his head. Covering the lapse, he jabbed, "Thanks for keeping your pants on this time."

"I do what I can," the outsider said with forced pleasantness. He went back to staring at the ceiling. If he'd seen anything during his contact with the Tohma Faiere, he was covering it well. "Time to go get electrocuted by your lizard-woman statue again?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"Noree is under the impression that you're lying to us."

"About?"

"You used the faith stone to change something. What did you wish for?" Karl was trying to be intimidating, and failing miserably. If anything, the outsider looked amused, not intimidated.

David snorted at that. "If I were going to have a wish granted, I wouldn't waste it changing things on this island, I'd use it to wish myself off of this cesspool and go _home_. Think about it, Scott, do I really strike you as the type of guy who would pray to a rock?"

_Well, when he put it that way…_"Who else used the Tohma Faiere after you stole it from our Temple?"

Barrett grinned wickedly. "_You_ did, apparently."

That struck a nerve. Karl's hand balled into a fist, just for an instant, before he collected his cool. "Maybe you don't get it, but I'm serious---one of your forest-crawling buddies probably used that stone to screw up a lot of lives…"

David jumped off the bunk so fast that the saurian guard advanced on the outsider. Karl waved the guard off. "You dragged me down here to your little temple and had some Godzilla statue zap me, then you locked me in this stinking cell with Olaf the Enforcer there breathing lizard breath on me…believe me, Dino-scout, I _get_ that you're serious. _Try_ to understand what _I'm_ saying---" He spoke very slowly as if speaking to someone incredibly dense. "I don't _know_ who the hell's been playing with your meteor rock. And if I did, believe me God, I wouldn't be trying to extend my stay in these lovely accommodations by keeping it a secret. I do have places to be, you know, and much better things to do."

That was true enough. Al would wait for David, and Le Sage might (_might_), but Gabriel Dane and Payden Boreal would take the submarine and leave David behind without a second thought, no problem. David had to get out of this 'topian prison before then or he could kiss his ride off this island good-bye.

"Then we have a problem, 'cause I don't have time to file every man, woman, child, and saurian on the island into this temple to touch the faith stone just to see who sets off its alarm. And if you don't have any idea who we're looking for, that's what I'm going to have to do. I promise you that you will wait here in this room for however long that takes," Karl warned.

David shrugged and hopped back onto the cot. He turned on his side, facing away from the skybax rider and the saurian guard. "Whatever. Wake me when you're finished."

It was another close call, but again Karl restrained himself from decking---or better still, walking over there and shaking the answers out of ---the outsider. If David Barrett wasn't going to volunteer information, maybe he'd like to try getting zapped by the temple sentinel again. "Get Noree and tell her we're going to try that ritual again," Karl instructed the guard.

Karl heard a distinct snort from the prisoner. "What?" he asked, defensively.

"You," David said. "The scalie-lovers really have you brainwashed, don't they?"

"Excuse me!"

The outsider rolled onto his back again, facing the skybax rider. "C'mon, Scott. You're an off-worlder just like me. You don't buy into all this crap a bout magic rocks that can alter reality, do you? You can tell me---I promise not to blow your secret in front of your pretty little matriarch…"

At the mention of Marion, Karl lost his battle with his temper. He was halfway across the room before he realized what he was doing and stopped. From the amusement in Barrett's eyes, the lapse hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I don't get people like you," Karl said. "You obviously got that pterosaur to put up with you, so you can't be as complete a loser as you act like. You could make a home here and instead you throw it back in----"

David laughed. "And I could wear a fancy uniform just like yours and have a baby dinosaur call me 'daddy'? Can't you just picture that?" The good humor lasted long enough for him to shake his head. Then it vanished. He sat up on the bunk. "Let's get one thing straight: This 'Jurassic Park' island is _not_ my home. My home is back in the States with real food and television and cars and multiplexes and baseball games and, most important of all, without scalies trying to make a Happy Meal out of me! And _I_ don't get how _you_ can forget all that so easy if the scalie-lovers _aren't_ using their magic rocks to brainwash you!"

"You _did_ see something with the faith stone, didn't you?" Karl guessed…no, he knew it.

It was David's turn to falter, just for a second. Blue images swam through his head, but with every bit of willpower, he forced the images out of his mind. They might have been memories of another lifetime, like the 'topians said, or they might have been mind tricks, attempts to win him over to their way of life through brainwashing. It didn't matter either way. David wasn't interested in being a 'topian in this reality or in any imaginary alternate lifetime…especially if it prevented him from getting off this miserable island. He was going home---and home wasn't this place. He was getting out of here, heading for the sub, and making a try for the mainland just as soon as these scalie-lovers let their guard down. His only dilemma right now involved figuring out the fastest way to make that happen: Pretend to go along with their mind games or pretend not to know what they were talking about when they mentioned magic rocks and altered reality.

"I saw about a million volts of meteorite electricity rocketing towards me, that's what I saw," he said to the skybax rider, picking the latter option.

David Barrett, Karl observed, wasn't good at bluffing. His eyes gave him away. "Anyone ever tell you, Barrett, that you're a rotten liar?" Karl asked.

"Here's an idea, why don't you just tell me what answer will get me out of your charming little temple as fast as possible, and I'll tell your scalie friend that's what I saw," David suggested.

"Karl?" Noree appeared in the doorway. "Forgive the interruption, but the guard said you want to attempt the Tohma Faiere ritual again?" She was carrying a tray of food, which she placed on the table beside David's bunk.

"Hey, why not? That gem of yours has quite a punch---clears the sinuses and I think it melted a tooth that's been bugging me for weeks," David said with forced cheerfulness. He stared at the gray food-like stuff that Noree had brought. "What the hell is _that_ stuff? No, wait, I don't want to know. There's no answer that could possibly make me happy."

Karl could see any slim hope he'd had of getting a straight answer from the outsider was gone. "We'll try again after dinner," he said to the Keeper. With that, he turned and walked out, leaving David alone in the dimly lit makeshift prison. He listened until the dinoscout's footsteps retreated down the hall, probably back to that Temple to tell the other scalie-lovers that their little brainwashing scheme wasn't working. Under the wide gap between the bottom of the door and the stone floor, David saw shadows move…the saurian guards taking up their position outside his door, David assumed, preventing the outsider from escaping before that scalie priestess could try again. _Sorry, Svengali, you're not getting another crack at me._

It was now or never.

David reached into his boots and withdrew a bundle of dried, carefully selected and prepared twigs, plants, and herbs and held the tip of the bundle to the flame of the lantern that lit the room…

**Back**


	15. Chapter 15

84

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

"We should go back and get David." Alano was losing patience. The sun was setting and the two packs were preparing the submarine to depart at high tide. Waves were already lapping at the pier. David hadn't returned on his own, and Alano's gut instinct was that his friend was in trouble. Le Sage and Dane would have no qualms about shipping out without Barrett, of that Alano was sure.

Perched on the boulders nearby, Freefall made a grumbling sound. Alano tossed the pterosaur a fish from his own dinner plate.

"What are you worried about? David's gotten away from the scalie-lovers so many times, it's practically his hobby. If you want to _try _to fly the scalie and to Waterfall City, in the dark no less, that's fine. But, unless you're planning to stick to the coast, you're going to have to fly through carnosaur territory to make it there and back before high tide." Le Sage pulled her coat tighter around herself, shivering in the cooling late afternoon air.

"Aren't you---" Alano began, but the conversation abruptly ceased when Gabriel Dane came to join them.

Dane offered them his flask. "Warm you up faster than the fire, yes?" he laughed when Alano gagged, eyes watering, on a swallow of the liquor. It burned all the way down his throat. He had no way of knowing for sure, but if Alano had to guess, he'd imagine that stuff was exactly what scalie pee would taste like. He wasn't going to be able to keep it down. Le Sage, however, tossed it back with only the faintest wrinkling of her nose.

"She not so bad, our boat; She patch up easy. The tide, she be up over the dock soon and we be on our way." Dane gestured to the holes the pack was laboring to plug. "I wonder what become of our friend, Cyrus?"

"Judging by the teeth marks, I'd say he was dinner for the fishies---which is what you're going to be if that hand of yours makes contact with any part of me," Le Sage advised.

Dane moved to the opposite side of the campfire, heeding the warning.

Alano's stomach lurched violently. _No, he wasn't going to be able to keep down that swill of Dane's. _He jumped to his feet with a hurried "Excuse me" and dashed for the nearby boulders and undergrowth. He barely got out of sight of those in the camp before losing the drink and most of his dinner behind the rocks. Over the sound of his pulse hammering in his ears and the horrible retching, he heard the beat of Freefall's wings as the dinosaur followed and perched on a boulder directly above Alano's head.

"Ugh," Alano groaned, wiping at his mouth with a dirty handkerchief. "Ol' Frank Scott's got no worries about Dane stealing his customers with that rot."

Freefall was looking quite put out. The pterosaur beat his wings again, impatiently.

"Oh don't look at me like that---Le Sage is right, you know. We won't make Waterfall City before dark, and it's not safe winging about through the carnies' territory, especially at night. David will show up on his own soon." He didn't sound convincing, and sure enough, Freefall didn't look convinced.

The man had entered the tavern early, long before the first patrons usually arrived. The very presence of the man had set Frank's nerves on edge. He was used to the Outsiders. Most were boisterous, overindulgent braggarts, but were harmless. This man was different. Frank only had to look in his eyes to know that. He was built like a brick wall. Scars covered his hands and a few marred his cheek and neck. His clothes were like burlap and were dyed shades of green—meant to blend with the colors of the forest undoubtedly. But it was the eyes that made Frank uneasy. The man's gaze was calculating, devoid of emotion, determined. Frank had seen enough mug shots and been in enough bar fights to know that look. Those were the eyes of someone with the capacity for violence---the ability to take a life, human or dinosaur, without remorse.

He was trouble.

Twenty-Six, from her bed by the stairs, sensed it as well. She bleated a pitiful wail and shrank back farther into the shadows beneath the staircase when the man focused his gaze on her. Frank saw the Outsider's hand clench, just for an instant, and then relax.

There was only one islander—one Outsider---he could be. Frank had never laid eyes on Payden Borale, but he deduced from the stories he'd heard that this stranger was him. Payden was supposed to be in Gull's Bay with his running buddy, Gabriel Dane, or so David Barrett had said. What was he doing in the tavern? Frank was only grateful that Jack was upstairs asleep and that Karl was out chasing David. He didn't want a man as dangerous as Payden in the tavern, let alone around his kids.

"Can I help you?" Frank asked, not coming out from behind the bar. He kept a very heavy baseball bat-like piece of wood behind the bar just in case a patron got to rowdy. He had a feeling that this might be his first occasion to actually use it.

Payden didn't move from where he stood near the doorway, didn't so much as blink. "Frank Scott?"

"Yeah?"

Frank didn't see it, Payden moved so fast. In the space of one second, the man withdrew a cloth pouch from his coat. In the next instant, the pouch struck Frank squarely in the face and spilled its powdery contents into his mouth and nose. The effect was instantaneous: Frank's vision blurred and the world around him started spinning. He tried to cough, but that only pulled more of the foul stuff into his mouth and lungs, choking him. He tried to speak, but that made the problem worse. Finally, he tried to raise his hand to wipe the stuff away from his face, but he couldn't seem to coordinate his movements with what his brain wanted his arm to do. He was rapidly becoming groggy and had to struggle to keep his eyes open.

The next thing Frank knew, the floor was smacking him in the face. He thought he heard Jack call, "Dad!" right before everything went dark.

"Karl!"

Marion had been waiting in the hallway when he stormed out of the outsider's room. She'd had to shout several times before Karl noticed her presence. He paused, but didn't turn to face her, so she had to circle around in front of him in order to see his face. "What happened in there? Noree said we're doing the ritual again? You understand that it won't work until we find whoever---"

"That was called 'bluffing', Marion! I was trying to scare Barrett into telling me who else had access to the faith stone," Karl snapped, frustration biting into his tone.

"Did he?" Marion read the answer in Karl's eyes.

"What do you think? He wouldn't tell us if he did. He thinks we're trying to brainwash him. Only flaw in his theory being that he'd actually have to _have_ a brain for that plan to work…where are you going?"

Without another word, Marion strode down the small hallway and back into the main chamber of the temple. She walked to the sentinel and took the Tohma Faiere's box from its outstretched stone hands.

"Marion, I already said I was bluffing----' Karl stared at the faith stone's case with dread as she approached him with it. "What are you doing! I- -I thought we needed to find everyone who used the stone to make the ritual work?"

"We need everyone who prayed to it only to undo whatever spell the Tohma Faiere created. _You_ can figure out what's been changed without David's help." Marion opened the box. "Karl, I _know_ you saw something during the ritual that you aren't telling me about, I can see it in your eyes and I can feel it in your mind…just as I know that David saw something at Le Sage's when he k---er," Karl's ears were going red again. "…when he took the medallion from me," she finished. "One of you is going to tell me the truth so we can figure out who used the faith stone and what has to be set straight."

When Karl balked, Marion added firmly, "If I have to, I'll make both of you to use the faith stone over and over until you do. Now, will you try again or shall I start with David?"

Stalling, he marched back to the main hall and sank down onto one of the benches. She followed, waiting expectantly. "I saw things that happened before I came to the island mostly," Karl began. "I _think_. It's hard to explain…it's like it was my life, but it wasn't. I'm not---I can't be---the way I was in those visions, I don't _want_ to be the way I was in those visions."

"You saw your real lifetime. Tell me," she urged.

_No way._ If Marion knew about all those girls he'd seen in those visions, Karl would crawl under a rock and die of embarrassment. "It was just…summer camp, family vacations, the plane crash when we landed here."

"What was different?"

"All of it. I never went to summer camp---I worked at the markets to help pay bills. I wasn't the big man on campus or a jock---I hate sports. I was the one who tripped everyone in the tug-of-war line. I never went free-climbing, I read books in the tent. And I never---" _Had a libido like a sailor on shore leave,_ he thought. He was a nerd, especially where girls were concerned.

In this lifetime, at least. Apparently, it was quite a different story before the faith stone changed reality as he knew it…

"Jack." The word slipped out.

"What about him?" Marion asked.

"The vision I saw was at camp. Jack and I were arguing and then----"

"What?"

"It wasn't Jack anymore. He disappeared and I saw David Barrett instead."

Marion's eyes widened. "Are you saying you saw David as your---but that doesn't make sense. Why would you pray to remove your brother from your life?"

"You've _met_ the guy, haven't you?" Karl was defensive. "Anyway, who said _I_ did it?" _Maybe David had made the wish. Why would he do that? Why would he want to be rid of Karl and Jack?_

_Wait a second…_

"Jack."

Marion frowned. "What about him?"

"David was my brother in that other lifetime…if that was the real lifetime, I didn't---_we _didn't---_have_ a brother named Jack," Karl remembered. Warning alarms were going off in his mind. He felt a renewed surge of dread.

She caught his meaning. "Jack might be the other one, the one who prayed to the stone." Karl snatched the box out of her hands. "Karl?"

"I have to do this," he changed his mind. He rushed to one of the private chambers. He didn't want an audience for this.

"Why?" Marion closed the door behind them.

Karl sat down on the cot. "Because, the way I see it, either Jack used the stone to switch places with David---_why_ anyone would want to do that, I don't know---or when the faith stone changed the timeline, Jack was born. And if we change it back…"

Marion finished the thought, "Jack won't exist."

Karl stared at the dormant stone resting in the box. It had to be done---Karl had to know. Steeling himself, he reached for the stone, as ready as he'd ever be for its visions.


	16. Chapter 16

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**8**

"_Please, Mom…"_

This time, Karl didn't resist the pull of the blue visions. It was too important. When the images formed within his mind, he concentrated on them whole-heartedly.

_Karl had been looking forward to this day since he was old enough to understand that his dad's job involved a lot of travel to all kinds of places the child had only heard of in Social Studies. Dad always brought him gifts when he returned from these trips, and had envelopes full of pictures---everything from the Eiffel Tower to the Great Wall of China, with Dad posing, sometimes alone and sometimes with people in suits. Some of the pictures showed Dad standing in front of his airplane. Karl knew that traveling to far off places and business suits were part of the lives of rich and important people. If his father flew off to such places and hung around such people, his work must have been important as well. Plus, his father flew his own airplane, just like fighter pilots in the movies._

_He had grown up in hero-worship of his father, Frank._

_Karl was eight-years-old the summer that his father finally thought he was old enough to come along on one of these business trips. With much begging and puppy dog eyes, the boy had finally got his mom to agree._

_"Italy is a long ways away, Karl, I don't know…"_

_"But, I'll be with Dad."_

_Mom turned from the piles of paper on her desk just long enough to give him a look that said clearly that her ex-husband's presence didn't do one thing to reassure her. "Karl, it's three weeks. That's a big piece of your summer. You won't be able to play softball."_

_"I'll go out for the team next year. Please, Mom?" Why wasn't 'please' enough? Didn't she see how important this was to him? Karl only saw his father a couple of times a month as it was. Spending three entire weeks with Dad…well, he hadn't done that since his parents divorced, and even then, they'd had to include Karl's stupid half-brother in most of their activities. _

_Mom saw Karl's pout and mimicked it. "I'll miss you too much."_

_Karl groaned, as always, at the mushy stuff. Mom was always mushy about stuff like this. "It's only three weeks. I'll call every day. I'll send postcards. I promise. Please, Mom?"_

_She dropped the words Karl didn't want to hear then: "Is your brother going?"_

_The boy made a face. "Why does _he_ have to go?" It was bad enough Dad had to divide his free time between Karl and his half-brother since David had moved with his mom to Utah. Karl didn't want his half-brother sticking his nose into Karl's time with Dad. Dad had promised to show Karl the Tower of Pisa and teach him how to fly the plane---this was _his _time with Dad._

_He knew from Mom's reaction that he'd said exactly the wrong thing, but he didn't know why. Karl stared back at her, unapologetic. Then he tried again, this time with a phrase his teachers used when they wanted him to do something boring: "It's a good opportunity to learn."_

_Mom fought hard not to laugh at that. "Pretty good psychology, there, kiddo."_

_Hope! "Does that mean I can go?" Karl asked._

_"I'll think about it."_

_Which always meant 'yes'. "Thanks, Mom!" Karl bear-hugged her._

_Dad was there, larger than life, checking the engines of the airplane, when Karl's mom drove her son to the small airport. Frank Scott greeted his younger son with a wide grin, but didn't wave since he had one hand on an engine and the other was grasping a wrench. Someday, Karl vowed, he was going to know how to fly just like his dad and how to fix airplanes just like him. He was going to have an important job like his dad, too. _

"_Dad!" Karl was out of the car before it had come to a full stop, oblivious to Mom yelling at him for his recklessness, and dashed across the hanger._

_Dad set down the wrench and wiped his hands on a towel---which didn't help much, since the rag was already sodden with engine grease. He finally used a clean patch on his coveralls to mop the oil off his hands before greeting Karl with a hug. "There's my boy! How ya doing, kid?" Dad frowned at Karl's long blonde locks. "You need a haircut."_

"_Da-ad…" Karl rolled his eyes. "Short hair is not in style." If he showed up at school this fall with hair that wasn't at least down to his ears, he'd get beat up just like the mouth-breathers and chess club geeks._

_His father wasn't impressed. "We'll talk about it."_

"_I'm not cutting my hair," Karl insisted._

_Dad's chuckle signaled Karl's temporary victory in the argument. "How's your mom?" He waved in the direction of the car. Mom waved back before driving away._

"_She kept hugging me all day yesterday." Which was why Karl had asked her to just drop him at the gate instead of walking him to the airplane. The last thing he wanted was Mom hugging and kissing him in front of the guys in the hangar. It wasn't cool at all. "I'm supposed to call her every day. Why do girls get so---"_

"_Emotional?" Dad supplied the word. He took Karl's bag and stowed it in the plane. "Someday, you'll appreciate them, son. So, ready for your first flying lesson?"_

_Ready? Karl had hardly slept during the last week, he was so looking forward to it. "Ready!"_

_Frank gave him a serious frown. "You didn't tell your mother about the flying lessons, right?"_

"_Dad, I'm eight years old, but I'm not stupid."_

_Dad tousled his hair. "Good man."_

Friends? He and Dad were friends? _That couldn't be._ Karl's conscious mind couldn't wrap itself around that notion. Dad whom Karl had nothing in common with? Dad whom Karl could never make proud of him? _No way._ Jack was the one who was Dad's co-pilot and best friend. They were the team. Karl had been the son who hated sports and sat in the back of the plane and in the hotel rooms reading books.

Hadn't he?

_Karl's good spirits lasted the first two hours of the flight, during which time Dad let him hold the controls, gave instructions---greatly simplified---on the various instruments and use of the radio, all the while scaring the bejeezus out of the kid with stories of some of the more harrowing flight experiences he'd survived. "…and so there I was, gliding towards Sac Exec on fumes with a dead stick, in the fog mind you. Not exactly your ideal landing conditions."_

"_Did you belly land?" Karl was engrossed, wide-eyed, in the story._

"_Not that time, but there was a training flight in Miami-Dade when I was not much older than you---they could see the sparks flying a mile from the airport, I'm told…" Dad's tale was interrupted by the flight controller's voice on the radio. Since Dad was wearing the headphones, Karl could hear only his side of the conversation and the garbled words "…cleared for landing on runway B…"_

_Cleared for landing? Karl was confused. They hadn't been flying long enough to be in Italy. He hadn't even seen the ocean yet. "We're landing?"_

"_Got to pick up your brother before we catch our flight in L.A. Let me take the controls now." His attention focused on the approaching airfield, Dad missed the scowl darkening his younger son's face._

"_Why is _he_ going with us?" Karl pouted, arms folded across his small chest. _

"_Because we're a family, Karl. You're both my sons and I love both of you and I want us to do things together. Understand?"_

"_Yeah," Karl didn't, but there wasn't a thing he could do now except sulk until they touched down._

_Once the plane rolled to a stop and powered down, Dad finally turned to Karl. "You going to come say hello?"_

_No way. Karl may have to put up with his brother horning in on his time with Dad, but he wasn't about to budge from the co-pilot's seat. David was going to sit in the back…in fact, Karl decided that his brother could sit in the back on _every _flight for the rest of their lives if he were going to insist on coming along. Karl leaned back in his seat, determined not to move. "I can say hi in here."_

"_Let me rephrase the question: Get your butt out of the plane and come say hello to your brother…now," Dad ordered._

_He obeyed reluctantly, trudging a few feet behind Frank as his father crossed the field toward a small hangar. Karl almost didn't recognize his brother. He hadn't seen David since---well, since the beginning of the previous school year. His brother was in the hangar, using his suitcase for a chair since all the available benches were covered with plane parts, reading a book and didn't look up or stand until dad called, "David!" His brother had grown at least a foot taller and his curly hair had been buzzed short, Karl noted with a satisfied smirk. _

_"David…damn, you're gonna be taller than me before long," Dad said in greeting. "How are you? Where's your mom? And Kevin?" Dad made a face at the name. Karl wondered who 'Kevin' was and why Dad didn't seem to like him._

_"Fine, sir. They're home, sir," David answered glumly, unsmiling and seeming downright apprehensive. It was obvious he didn't share Karl's eagerness for this family trip. Big surprise there, David never wanted to do anything Karl and Dad liked to do. He'd be driving Dad nuts before they even got to L.A., Karl knew. Dad, naturally, had to initiate the hug._

_"'Sir'? What's with 'sir'? I'm not your drill sergeant, I'm 'Dad' remember?" Dad brushed a finger over the boy's close-shaved temple. "Or did you join the Army since the last time I saw you?"_

_David pulled back a bit at the contact. "No, Sir."_

_Dad sighed. "Okay, we'll work on the 'sir' thing. Karl, say hi to your brother."_

_Karl deadpanned, "Hi to your brother."_

_David rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be a fun trip." He picked up his suitcase and blew right past Karl._

_"Nice hair, geek," Karl fired._

_"Shut up, troll," his brother fired back._

_"Boys," Dad warned. He took David's bag, frowning at the weight. "What's in here? You mom pack an entire pharmacy in here?"_

_"Books," David answered._

_Karl snorted, "Figures."_

_"You don't need books for vacation," Dad said._

_"It's my summer reading list."_

_"Geek," Karl repeated._

_"You're going to have too much fun to read." David glanced sidelong at Dad, not at all happy to be ganged up on by the duo. Dad tried again, "You like to fly?"_

_Sensing his co-pilot's chair was in jeopardy, Karl acted: He ran for the plane and jumped into the shotgun seat, then gave David a triumphant grin that dared him to protest._

_"No," David said._

_Dad was astounded. "How do you not like to fly? What's the matter, you scared of planes?" he picked._

_David's ears were going red. "I don't like heights."_

_"Since when?"_

_"Since _always_." David's tone said 'you would know that if you paid attention'._

_Dad patted his shoulder. "You'll like this, trust me. I'll make a pilot out of you yet." He waved the boy towards the rear seat of the plane and secured David's suitcase._

_"Don't count on it," Karl heard his brother mumble._

_"Tell him about Miami-Dade," Karl suggested._

It was David Barrett all right, no room for doubt this time. In the visions, his hair was shorter---sometimes buzzed short, sometimes a bit longer and curly---and the growth of beard he had now was absent. His eyes were not brown in the visions; they were exactly the same color and shape as Frank's. Still, Karl recognized him at once. In some of the visions, David was wearing the bronze-orange skybax rider's uniform and gear instead of the black coat he favored now.

And there was no Jack. Karl's mind fixated on that point.

There was no Jack in that lifetime…David was his brother, no room for doubt about that either...and they _didn't_ have a kid brother. Frank had stopped having children when just being a part-time parent to Karl and David had taken everything he had mentally and physically and financially.

_Where was Jack_? Karl had to know, tried to will the Tohma Faiere to answer that question. _What happened? How did reality get so screwed over?_

New visions formed even as the image of the airport and plane faded…

Distantly, from somewhere beyond the blue-hued images, Karl heard Noree's voice: _"Put him on the cot…we need to break the contact with the faith stone."_

_Not yet, not yet, not yet,_ Karl mentally begged. He still hadn't figured out what happened to break the timeline…

This time, Marion was prepared. As soon as the light of the Tohma Faiere faded and Karl sagged, unconscious, she and Noree were there to catch him. Together, the human and the saurian maneuvered him back onto the small cot. Marion pulled the faith stone from his hand to break the trance and shook him: "Karl?"

No response. She hadn't expected one, but she tried a few more times to wake him before giving up. His eyelids still fluttered and his hand twitched; apparently whatever the Tohma Faiere was showing him hadn't fully played out even though he was no longer in contact with the stone. She brushed the bangs from his eyes and left him to rest, trying not to despair and praying Karl got the answers they needed from this attempt. She didn't want to test the limits of how much exposure to the faith stone he or David could take.

There was something that needed to be done, and Marion could not put it off any longer. "Noree, would you ask Romana to bring Jack to the Sanctuary? Tell her to go as quickly as she can. I believe he's at the tavern right now."

The Keeper bowed, solemn. "Of course." She slipped from the private chamber.

Marion draped a blanket over Karl, then settled herself into a chair. The knowledge that she might have just summoned Jack to his own erasure from existence was more than a little troubling. She hoped it wouldn't come to that, but Karl's words replayed in her memory: Karl had seen David as his brother. _We didn't have a brother named Jack._

_David was---_is_---Karl's brother. Or perhaps his half-brother? They were both Frank's sons?_ _Was that even remotely possible? Maybe. _Marion looked to her own intuition, as she always did when she needed truth. Her heart had never mislead her.

Marion had sensed something---familiar---the first time she'd seen David on that beach, hadn't she? And David? He'd protected Marion from Gabriel Dane when he'd had no reason to do so that day. If she had been part of Karl's life in the other timeline, and Karl had said she was, then David _must_ have been her friend as well. David had the intuition---the empathy---required to form a connection to that wild pterosaur. '_I heard it in my head. It said its name was Freefall,'_ David had told his friend Al. He'd gone so far as to defy the Outsider hunters by protecting the pterosaur. It was the same empathy that Marion used to communicate with the saurians. Perhaps it had been that intuition that allowed both of them to sense a truth that day---a truth the Tohma Faiere had nearly erased.

That intuition must have lead David back to his family, his real family, despite the alteration of the timeline. He'd gone out of his way to frequent the Scott Tavern even when running afoul of Karl was always a risk. And Frank? Yes, surely he must have been father to David as well as Karl. He'd been protecting David against Karl's wishes in this timeline all these months…even telling Karl about the rendezvous in Zuru had been an action meant to prevent David from killing himself trying to cross the Razor Reef in that submarine. It might have been the actions of one friend looking out for another…or those of a father looking out for a son, a son from a lifetime neither remembered.

The Tohma Faiere had glowed for both David and Karl because they had both been present when it was used. Marion had assumed they'd both been present because they'd been fighting for the stone, that David had stolen it in the real timeline and Karl had stopped him. She'd been wrong. They had both been present because they were together because they were family.

Yes, that seemed right somehow.

Marion hoped that intuition would help David accept the truth of what had happened. Karl was having a hard enough time dealing with the truth, and Marion was only beginning to see it, and they had the benefit of actual faith in the Tohma Faiere's powers to help them believe what had happened. She had a feeling David was going to be harder to convince, being more distrustful of Dinotopians and their beliefs.

_Then there was Jack. What were they going to do about Jack?_ _What if Jack hadn't existed in the other timeline?_ Marion could make difficult decisions; she would have to if she was to be matriarch, but consigning the boy to oblivion to correct the timeline? She didn't know if she could do that.

She closed her eyes, weariness settling in as the unending stream of questions weighed on her mind.

"Matriarch!"

At the weak cry, and a _thump_ like the sound of a body falling, Marion was on her feet immediately. She ran out of the room, following the hallway in the direction from which the call had come. Immediately, the sweet scent of burning roots and herbs filled her nostrils. She remembered that smell: it was the same odor she had smelled when she'd found Noree and the saurian guards unconscious the day…

…the day David Barrett stole the sunstone!

Marion knew what she'd find before she reached the room where they'd left David. His two saurian guards and Noree were sprawled across the floor, a bundle of roots still smouldering near them. She didn't break her stride even long enough to confirm that they were unconscious or that David had escaped. She didn't need to: One guard was snoring loudly, and the door to the chamber hung wide open, revealing that the room was now empty.

There was no point in calling for help. Romana had gone to get Jack and Karl wouldn't recover from the effects of the Tohma Faiere for several minutes at least, more likely for an hour. Anyone else in the Sanctuary would be saurian, and temporarily paralyzed by the smoke bomb by now. David was probably already up the stairs. By the time anyone came to help Marion, he'd be on his way to the coast.

Marion ran for the stairs. She ran for all she was worth.

When she reached the covered stairway, there was no sign of him. With the roar of the waterfall on the other side of the enclosure, there was no chance she would hear his footsteps on the staircase---or that he could hear her shouts. Nevertheless, she yelled, "David!" and barreled up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

She was halfway to the top of the long stairway when something made her stop. She hesitated, undecided. She looked up at the archway that led to the streets of Waterfall City. Then she glanced down, towards the bottom of the stairs and the exit that went to the river below the falls.

Then Marion turned and ran back down the staircase, out the door, and into the forest.


	17. Chapter 17

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**9**

David made it as far as the boat.

Once he slipped out of the Sanctuary, he headed for the river in search of any boat that the 'topian fishermen might have beached on the riverbank for the evening. He knew Scott, Marion, and the saurian guards (after they woke up) would head for the enclosed stairway beside the falls. They'd expect David to head for the city…no one in their right mind would get into a boat and head into the forest with night falling fast. But, Gabriel's training was ingrained into David: The falls would cover the sounds of David moving through the brush of the forest that lined the riverbank. The trees, once he reached them, would protect him from any dino-scouts if any were dumb enough to try to fly after him in the dark.

He didn't have to follow the river for long before he found an abandoned boat. Now, it was just a matter of floating down the river to Gull's Bay. If he hurried, he'd still make it before tomorrow's high tide. He'd just have to hope that Al would stall Le Sage and Dane until David got there. After that, it was just a matter of climbing into the submarine, crossing the Razor Reef, and he'd be on his way back to the mainland.

_Then what?_

David's hands froze just inches above the bow of the boat…inches from grabbing hold and pushing it into the water. From his escape.

_It was just a rock, Barrett. You didn't see anything---not at the tavern, not at Le Sage's, not with those dinoscouts, and definitely not when that rock zapped you. Nothing. It was just scalie-lover mind tricks. Just get into the boat and go, David…_he rallied himself. _GO. _

Involuntarily, his eyes closed and blue light filled his mind again…

_The door had a "240" on it. The first number was a '2'---David knew the number from his books. It was how old he was, too. The door was in a large building---very large from the toddler's vantage point---made of brick, one that had a lot of stairs. His mother had carried him up most of the flights, balancing him in one arm, his suitcase in the other. When they got to the door with the "240", they stopped and his mother set him down. David was confused. His mother had said they were going to a 'house', but this didn't look like a house. It looked like a hallway…and it smelled weird---it smelled like when their dog, Dodger, had accidents on the carpet. His mother knocked, and a very large man with black hair and bushy eyebrows opened it._

_The man looked at David's mom, called her "Abby", then stared down at David and smiled. "Hey, there's my boy!" he greeted the toddler. He reached a big hand towards the child. David had the sudden fear that the man was going to grab him and take him away from his mom. He ducked behind her for safety and peered back in fright at the stranger._

_"Oh, that's perfect, Abby. My son doesn't even recognize me." The man sounded angry, which did nothing to persuade David to step out from behind his mother._

_"Yeah, and whose fault is that, Frank? Don't blame him because you spent the first years of his life having a baby with that travel agent and never bothered to visit us." Mom sounded mad, too._

_"You could have visited---"_

_"I don't have time to rearrange my life to accommodate you, Frank, now that you've decided your son is old enough to be interesting and feel like playing dad. It's not my responsibility." She handed David's suitcase to the large man._

_"That isn't fair."_

_"You dumped me for that travel agent before your son's first birthday, Frank. Don't talk to me about 'fair'. I brought him here like we agreed. Here are his books---"_

_The man wrinkled his nose at the books. "Books? He's barely old enough to walk!"_

_"---his schedule, his inhaler, and the list of emergency phone numbers. I'll be back in three days…"_

_That was when another little boy, not quite as big as David, with yellow hair and brown eyes appeared from the house that wasn't a house. Seeing the child, David's mom took a deep breath and counted to three. When she spoke again, she didn't sound quite so angry. "Is that Karl?" she asked. The large man nodded._

_Mom wrapped her arm around David's shoulder and urged him out from behind her back. "David, this is your father. You've met him before, but I know you don't remember, since he's never around. You're going to stay with him this weekend. Do you remember we talked about that?"_

_David remembered. Mom had showed him a picture of his 'father', but face-to-face with the man, he wasn't so sure he wanted to go through with it. He wasn't sure what a 'father' was or why he needed one, but Mom had one (David's grandfather) and it seemed important to 'grandpa' that 'the boy have a father'._

_"Come here, sweetie, there's someone else I want you to meet," Mom said. Keeping her arm around his shoulder, she led David into the house---which was scary enough on its own, being big and unfamiliar with ugly masks on the wall and a weird smell (at least it smelled better than the hallway)---and over to the small, yellow-haired boy. The boy was watching them uncertainly. "David, this is your brother, Karl. What do you say?"_

_David knew the answer to that question was usually "Please", "Thank You", or "I'm Sorry", but none of those seemed right. "Yellow," David finally said._

_Mom patted his head. "Close enough."_

_The large man who was 'father', frowned. "What is he, retarded or something?"_

_Mom smacked the large man alongside his head and he yelped. "Keep David on his schedule, read the list of allergies---_especially_ the food allergies---because I'm sure there are a million things in this petrie dish of a building that will trigger his asthma, and for God's sake, try not to emotionally scar my child for life by being you or I'll make you pay for therapy when he grows up." Mom hugged David. "I'll be back in three days, honey. Have fun with your father and brother. Goodbye, Frank." And with that, mom left David alone with the stranger and the yellow-haired child._

_"Boys, remind me in a few years to have a long talk with you about women. Well, David, let's get you settled in." 'Father' picked up David's suitcase and started reading the pages his mom had left. "Jeez, is she kidding me with this list…?"_

David shook his head, trying to physically dislodge the nagging images from his brain. Since that scalie priestess did her voodoo magic chant, the visions were coming even through he was nowhere near that freaking space rock.

So, what _did_ it mean? David had still been turning all that over in his mind before Karl had interrupted him. He had come up with three theories.

First theory: The 'topians knew, thanks to Frank, that David had been planning to escape the island. Marion also knew David had no family, none besides the adoptive one he'd formed with a few outsiders like Alano and Le Sage. He'd let that slip the day he'd saved her from Gabriel Dane. She'd read the desire for a _real_ home, a _real_ family, with that damned empathy of hers and he'd stood there and let her do it. Since David frequented the Scott tavern and was friends with Frank Scott, maybe they thought they could play on David's respect for the off-worlder and desire for a real family and use their meteorites to plant some bad dreams in David's head (well, he corrected himself, not all bad---the ones with the matriarch's daughter weren't unpleasant at all) to convince him he was part of Frank Scott's family.

It seemed like a cruel tactic for 'pacifists' like the 'topians, but they might do it---in their minds, they'd probably justify it as 'saving his life' and doing David a favor by convincing him that the faith stone had erased his memories of another lifetime where he was a Scott, thus creating a 'happy home' and a family for him on the island. They might even hope to convert David into a scalie-lover that way.

The idea of being manipulated like that really pissed him off…

…but it didn't sound like 'topian strategy.

Second theory: The 'topians might just want to convince him that the faith stone had erased his memory of a whole other life to get him to tell them where Marion's medallion was hidden. That seemed more likely…but still, something about it didn't quite ring true to David either. That was the kind of deviousness you found among outsiders, but 'topians…well, it also wasn't their style.

Which brought David to his last theory: They were telling the truth. Frank and Karl and Jack were his family. David was really a nerd in a skybax rider uniform and Karl was his annoying, skirt-chasing brother, and that stone had somehow fractured reality to create a universe where David was an Outsider and Karl was the nerd in a skybax rider uniform. Truth was weirder than a Sci-Fi Channel movie-of-the-week.

So, David was either fleeing from his long-lost family from a parallel universe, a forgotten lifetime----which was so ridiculous that it was difficult not to laugh out loud at the notion---or he was escaping the hands of a horribly misguided dinosaur cult disguised as escapees from a Renaissance Festival, and devious ones at that. He didn't know what these images were, but he knew one thing:

_I am _not_ David Scott_.

Nevertheless, he could still feel the images in his mind, like a nagging pull in his brain trying to call him back to the Sanctuary.

It could call all it wanted; he wasn't answering. David didn't want to see any more.

Karl concentrated, trying to direct the Tohma Faiere's images to show him what he needed to know. _I need to know what screwed up the timeline. I need to know who Jack is. Show me more._ It was half-request, half-prayer. The faith stone obliged and the images smoothly shifted…

_"KARL!"_

_Sixteen-year-old Karl cringed as the last voice he wanted to hear boomed in the tiny tattoo parlor. Okay, maybe not the _last_ voice---Dad or, God forbid, Mom would have been worse, but his big brother was a close third. Did David have a damn tracking device planted under Karl's skin somewhere or what? How did he find Karl in the middle of freaking London? David had been asleep with his face planted on his laptop, trying to finish a Botany report, when Karl had sneaked out of Dad's hotel suite. "Needle Art's" tattoo parlor was miles from the Westin. _

_David threw open the door just like a policeman leading a raid on a drug lab just as Karl had settled, lying on his stomach, on a table. 'Needle Art', a hulk of a man, had been loading up the needle. The shout made Art jump, nearly stick the needle into his own finger. He gave the new arrival a death glare. David gave him an apologetic shrug, but his gaze was fixed on his brother---and the buxomous blonde who was standing beside Karl's tattoo table, beaming over the blue letters Art had just drawn on Karl's left glut. The letters spelled out her name. Karl had figured it was the fastest way to impress her. Who knew the ways she might express her appreciation…_

_"Wait your turn, kid," Art barked at David._

_David raised an eyebrow. "My turn? You are kidding, right?"_

_"Go away, David!" Karl's face was scarlet. _

_"Are you crazy? Seriously? Have you lost your mind?" David---very unhappily---inspected the buttocks art to be sure it was only ink and not permanent dye. "Get your pants on, Romeo, we're going back to the hotel." David glanced at the blonde girl. "Sorry---" He checked the name on Karl's hip. "---Angelica. We'd like him to make it to legal adulthood before he gives himself hepatitis or whatever other wonderful diseases are on that needle."_

_"Watch it, kid," Art growled._

_"No offense, 'Art' is it?" David held up his hands._

_Karl hurriedly jumped off the table and hiked up his jeans in one swift move. "I'm going to kill you, you know…" At the least, he was fully prepared to deck his brother. "Mind your own business, David."_

_"I could care less if you want to disfigure yourself to impress your flavor of the week, just wait and do it sometime when Dad can't find a way to make it _my _fault," David snapped. Karl supposed that was justified---when Karl had come back to the hotel with a nipple ring, having it done secretly while dating a pretty French girl, during their last family vacation, Dad had laid into David almost as bad as Karl: 'You're supposed to be the smart one. Why'd you let him do that?' _

_Still…there were principles here. "You're not my damn babysitter!"_

_"And believe me, I don't want the job!" David tried physically moving Karl to the door, and his younger brother pounced. The end result of the scuffle was both boys wrestling on the dirty floor of Needle Art's until the proprietor took the boys by their ears and tossed them out on to the sidewalk. David had an Indian burn, a bloody nose, and a blue dot on his shoulder from accidentally rolling into Art's needle. Karl had a split lip, several nasty bruises, but remained tattoo free. It had taken two blood tests over the span of a year to convince David he hadn't caught something from the needle… _

Karl would have cried out for frustration if he hadn't been paralyzed by the effects of the Tohma Faiere. This wasn't what he needed to know. So, Barrett was a pain in the butt in both realities, no surprises there. Big deal, Karl could have guessed that much. The combination of that, the parade of girlfriends, and the absence of his place in the Skybax Corps, wasn't a winning argument for convincing him to correct the timeline, either, if that's what the Tohma Faiere was trying to do. Karl still didn't see one good reason to want that life back…or to want to sign up for having Barrett…_David_…in his life 24/7.

_But Dad and I were friends_. _Wasn't that enough reason_?

Karl found that he couldn't answer his own question.

_The doorbell rang, barely audible from the upstairs bedroom, especially with the din of voices downstairs. Seventeen-year-old Karl didn't take much notice of it. People had been coming and going all weekend, bringing food and platitudes-with good intentions, yes---until Karl could stand no more. When his grandparents and his father had started another round of bickering-and attempted to drag Karl into the debate---the teenager had retreated into his bedroom and locked the door behind him. He was angry with all of them. _

_All he wanted was to get through Mom's funeral tomorrow before they all started making his choose sides in their quarrel over who was taking custody of him, but apparently the adults weren't going to let that happen. His Mom's parents were sure that Frank was too irresponsible to be a full-time guardian, citing that he'd "abandoned" their daughter years back and was constantly traveling with his sales job. Dad had countered that a "boy's place was with his parent". As far as Frank Scott was concerned, no further discussion was needed. Karl was too tired to keep arguing. If he were forced into another "Karl's better off with us because…" shpiel, he was in serious danger of settling the matter by going to live with his Aunt Patricia and her fifteen cats, allergies be damned. The whole thing was only making him wish more desperately that it could have been anyone besides his Mom that had to be killed in that car crash._

_The argument downstairs didn't ebb with the chime of the doorbell…until a new voice, distinctly not Frank's or one of the grandparents', let out a loud command Karl couldn't quite make out. The din of conversation ceased at once. After the new speaker's shout, the conversation downstairs was much more subdued. For a minute, the only sound was the soft music and the thunder of footsteps on the stairs, approaching Karl's room._

_Someone knocked on his door. Karl didn't answer, figuring it was dad or his grandparents again._

_The doorknob rattled, then, as Karl watched, a credit card jimmied the pitiful old lock and the door swung open. Sitting on the floor by his bed, not wanting to deal with the intruder, Karl snapped: "I want to be alone!"_

"_With that group, I don't blame you."_

_Karl's head jerked up. It wasn't a voice he'd been expecting to hear, but nevertheless it was real. David ducked into the room and swiftly locked the door behind him. For good measure, he pulled took the chair from Karl's small desk and propped it beneath the doorknob. He was covered with snow from the storm outside. He was also supposed to be at his mother's house in Utah, two time zones away. "I'm not sure what's more touching-Dad's 'grief through denial' routine or watching him and your grandfather having that glaring duel. I'd lock myself in, too," David said._

_Karl was still getting over the shock of his brother's arrival. "What are you doing here?"_

"_Where should I be?" He saw the expression on Karl's face. "What? You thought I wouldn't show up? Don't you trust me?"_

_David had a bag in his hand. The smell of fast-food from the bag filled the room, and Karl's stomach growled. "Food for the shut in. I figured with Dad's fantastic way of not coping, my little brother would be in his room starving himself instead of downstairs eating even though there's a room full of food, and, oh look, I was right. Here you are." He dropped the bag onto Karl's lap. "Eat."_

"_I'm not hungry."_

"_I didn't ask if you were hungry. I said 'eat'." Despite being taller, David couldn't possibly have forced him to obey. Karl already had ten pounds on his brother, and it was all muscle. Karl dug into the food anyway. David, meanwhile, shrugged out of his damp overcoat and plopped down beside his brother on the hardwood floor._

"_Did you fly in from Salt Lake City?" Karl asked, still dumbfounded that David was actually there._

"_Me? Fly? Voluntarily? Yeah, right. I took the train. Cost a month's pay from the Lucky Mart and we had to stop three times for snowstorms, plus I had to sit next to a guy who had a nice conversation with his left shoe for five hundred miles, but hey, no problem. Has Aunt Ethel started singing showtunes yet?"_

_Karl grinned a bit. "No, sorry, you didn't miss that."_

"_Damn. Hey, pass the bag, I'm starving, too." _

_They lapsed into silence for a bit, before David finally broke the quiet: "So, how are you doing, bro?" Karl gave him a look. "Okay, I know, dumb question." David nodded in the direction of the stairs, indicating the group downstairs. "They're being pretty pushy with you?"_

"_Grandpa wants to take me back to Duluth after the funeral. Dad told him to stay out of it. And I'm not sure, but I think Grandma may have thrown the marshmallow Jell-O mold at one point. Might have been her dentures, I don't know, I got the hell out of there."_

"_Vivid imagery there. Was it as bad as when Kevin wanted Dad to let him adopt me?"_

_Karl nodded. "Almost. 'Cept Dad wouldn't punch Grandpa or try to stuff him in a laundry chute."_

"_What do _you_ want to do?" David asked him._

"_I want to get through the funeral without fists and upper plates flying," Karl answered. He had been thinking about this question since his mother's accident, knew the answer even though this was the first time he said it aloud: "I want to stay with Dad."_

"_Yeah?" David didn't look surprised, though Karl was sure his brother wouldn't have felt the same way if he were in Karl's place. David's relationship with their dad was much rockier than Karl's._

"_Yeah."_

_David nodded, standing up. "Okay then."_

"_Where are you going?"_

_David pulled the chair away from the door and unlocked the handle. "To have a chat with the quote-unquote grown-ups and plead your case. At least, I'll try to get them to behave until the funeral is over. The advantage of being the polite, quiet son is that it gets people's attention when you do raise your voice. I'm here for you, bro." David offered Karl a mock salute. Vaguely, Karl realized his brother _did_ have some experience with this sort of thing. Dad and David's mom had been locked in custody and re- negotiations of visitation rights off and on for most of David's life. "I'm heading into the trenches...lock this door behind me. And if I don't come back---you _still_ owe me for telling Dad I dented his car last summer."_

_It surprised Karl that he actually felt a bit better. Okay, so maybe his brother wasn't a complete waste of space…_

The admission sent the faith stone's picture show spinning into a succession of images: _Karl was back in the underground caverns with his father, but instead of Jack, David was there with them. There was the crack of Cyrus' small gun and blinding pain shot through Karl's leg. From the corner of his eye, he saw David pounce. His brother wasn't a brawler, but he was bigger than Cyrus. They wrestled for the weapon. Another shift of images and David---in Dinotopian civilian garb---was running through the crowded streets of Waterfall City, an angry saurian in pursuit. He searched the crowd until he spotted Karl, shouted for his brother, and lobbed something through the air. Karl caught the object easily. It was a sunstone. Karl had the impression that the sunstone was important…but not because of a carnosaur attack. No, it was something about a transmitter. It needed a power source. They needed the sunstone to make the radio transmitter work to warn a boat away from the thunderstorm and the Razor Reef. The Dinotopians had hesitated to offer a sunstone, and his rule-abiding brother had actually swiped one in order to make Karl's plan work. And it had worked, Karl recalled. They'd saved that boat full of people... _

David and Karl had been friends, too?

_Another shift and there was Karl and David, working to pull their father out of one of the hunter's traps. Another shift, and there was Karl, attempting to teach his hopelessly nerdy brother how to box. That hadn't gone well at all: David was very near hopeless where sports were concerned. Karl had inadvertently knocked his brother onto his butt and Marion, already hacked off at the 'barbarism' of the upcoming boxing match, had fussed over David…_

There was something else. _Marion…there was something about Marion…Marion and David…and the Tohma Faiere._


	18. Chapter 18

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Freedom was right there in front of David Barrett. All he had to do was climb into that boat, take a ride down the river, and he'd be away from the 'topian mind games…but his feet seemed to have grown roots in the riverbank.

_David wasn't hiding---not really. He wasn't hiding; he was being prudent and avoiding another argument with his father. There was a ton of prep work to be done before the deep-island exploration mission, and if David tried to spread out maps and plot potential courses at the tavern, Frank Scott would launch into another tirade about the trip. His father seemed to be dead set on giving his older son all the grief he could squeeze in before David's departure. That left the library in Waterfall City, the skybax riders' base in Canyon City, or Flippeau's small home as David's choices of where to work in peace._

_He'd been up to his eyeballs in topographical maps when Marion had appeared on the balcony and announced: "Your brother is an idiot."_

_David didn't miss a beat. "And?"_

_Marion wasn't kidding. In fact, when she came onto the terrace, she was visibly upset. David knew she'd had a date with Karl that night. The knowledge was accompanied by the now-familiar pang of envy for his younger brother. If Marion was there, talking to David, instead of with Karl, the date couldn't have gone well. David was torn between evil satisfaction that Karl had somehow put his foot in it with Marion again and the irritation that Karl had done something to make her look as unhappy as she did now. Knowing Karl's usual date activities, David wasn't sure he wanted to know what the 'something' was. _

_She seemed determined that David was going to hear about it, however. Marion took a seat beside him at the table on Flippeau's small balcony. She looked at the charts that David had spread across the table. "Are those the maps of the inner island?"_

_"Yeah, I was just reading up for the mission." Truthfully, David could have done his pre-mission prep work more comfortably in his quarters at the base. He didn't know why he'd set himself up for the fun of watching his brother stealing away Marion by spending the weekend in Waterfall City. He didn't think he had any masochistic tendencies…_

_"You're really going then?" Marion asked, her frown deepening. Did she sound disappointed or was that just wishful thinking?_

_"Yep, really going...if Dad doesn't lock me in the tavern's basement or something first." _

_Marion sympathized with Frank. "He's only worried about you. You have to give him time to get used to the idea."_

_"I don't think he'll _ever_ be on board with me staying in the Skybax Corps." David put the charts aside. She wasn't here to talk about the mission, and he wasn't going to waste a rare opportunity to spend some alone time with her by talking about topography, flight routes, inner island plant life, and family spats. "What did Karl do this time?"_

_"He asked me to the Dawn Festival."_

_David was grateful that he wasn't drinking at the moment, or he'd have done a cartoon spit-take right then. He felt a surge of fear at the implications of what Karl asking Marion to the Dawn Festival meant, until he remembered that Karl's knowledge of all things Dinotopian was limited purely to what was needed to get by and no more. God forbid he made an extra effort---studying would have involved dedication and commitment. That meant Karl couldn't have known what he was asking Marion. No wonder she looked so pissed off. _

_"And he had no clue, right?" David asked._

_Marion shook her head. "He said it was like your homecoming dances…back _home_." _

_He didn't miss her emphasis on the last word. Strike two for Karl, David tallied mentally. "You're right---he's an idiot." _

_Apparently, she wasn't ready to joke about it, so David tried another tack. "Need a shoulder?"_

_Her pout became exaggerated, a little show of needing some sympathy. That was good, it meant her humor was returning. "Yes," she accepted, scooting her chair closer so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders in a consoling hug, no easy task with the arm rests between them. He decided that, for the moment, it was worth being in the lamentable role of "Supportive Friend" to get the chance to be close to her like this. The urge---powerful and almost irresistible-to kiss her was there and holding back was a test of willpower. But taking advantage and having Marion hate him and ending up in the doghouse currently occupied by Karl…well, David just wasn't going to risk that. The upside was that she didn't seem to be in any hurry to pull away._

_"So, you want me to have Freefall pick up Karl and drop him in a lake somewhere?" he offered._

_Marion did laugh at that image. He could only see the top of her head, but he could sense that she was smiling. "Would that help, do you think?"_

_Not a chance. Karl would probably find a farm girl or a mermaid to 'help him dry off', David knew, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "No, but it would make me feel better, how 'bout you?"_

_Marion picked up one of his maps. "Which lake?"_

"WHAT THE HELL IS A 'DAWN FESTIVAL!'"

Frustrated, bedeviled to distraction by the images plaguing him, David screamed the question to the empty forest. There was no way Frank Scott was his father or Karl and Jack Scott were his brothers. Not in any lifetime. There was no way David was king of the nerds the way he was in these blue-hued visions. He was clinging to that hope, but it diminished with every new hallucination-memory that came unbidden.

"It's a celebration for betrothed couples, a meditation-purification ritual meant to test the depth of their bond. How do you know about it?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected response. Marion was standing behind him. Somehow, that didn't surprise him. "It was a rhetorical question. You come here to try to drag me back to the Godzilla statue and space rocks? 'Cause I wouldn't mind wrestling again…"

"I knew there was something familiar about you when I saw you on that beach. I know who you are, David. I know what the Tohma Faiere showed you. Karl told me."

"That freak show was a clever trick, lady, but I know a con job when I see one. What'd you think putting those hallucinations in my head was going to do? Make me embrace my inner scalie-lover? Become a farmer? Spend the rest of my life on this sinkhole island? Nice try, but no thanks."

"I don't need the Tohma Faiere to know the truth. I feel it here." She pointed to her heart. "Even if I didn't sense it, now I can see it. You and Karl are both too stubborn for your own good, neither of you wants to accept the truth. But I believe it, and you have the intuition within you to sense the truth, if you'd only---"

"Sense what truth? I'm not a Jedi; sensing disturbances in the Force or the space-time continuum, or whatever that rock did, isn't my thing."

"I _know_ who you are…and so do you."

_The blue scenes shifted and images of many subsequent visits with his father and brother passed, rapid-fire, through David's mind: Schedules always went ignored, books packed in his bags went largely unused until David was old enough to learn to hide himself in a bedroom for quiet reading time, many fights with Karl over everything from ownership of toys to who rode in the front seat with Dad (usually Karl) to which movies they'd watch, the first time Frank had to deal with one of David's asthma attacks…and the images then shifted to the years when both boys were old enough to join their father on his semi-annual "adventures". It was never simply a 'vacation'---life was, after all, to be experienced with gusto and a stout heart. "Life's short, boys, swim…don't wade in the shallow end" was a favored, cryptic saying of Frank's._

_"I'm not eating that."_

_Karl made a coughing noise in reply that sounded like "wuss"._

_"C'mon, David, you're in a foreign country. Try something new," Dad badgered. "You can eat pasta back home."_

_"It's full of bacteria and it looks like a giant loogie." David stared at the giant plate of oysters that their waiter had plunked onto the table. "Do you know what kind of stuff they've found in raw oysters?"_

_Karl shrugged, cracked one open, and downed it with one gulp. Even if he wasn't always on Dad's side in such disagreements, there were several pretty Italian girls sitting at a nearby table, all of them staring at Karl. Karl would have eaten a plate of worms if he could impress girls by doing so._

_"Come on, David. You could spend less time reading about things and more time experiencing them," Dad preached, digging into the plate of shellfish. _

_David fumed. He was tired of dad and Karl's condescending attitudes about his love of reading and their mocking him for being more cautious than they were. Every vacation ended up Dad and Karl versus David in whatever they did. Karl was the 'chip-of-the-old-block', from his penchant for chasing any wild-hair idea that sprang into his brain to his chasing any and every girl that crossed his path, never doing any wrong in Frank's eyes. David couldn't feel more unlike either of them if he'd tried._

_"Food poisoning, I don't need to experience," David disagreed._

_And so the debate over dinner and his lack of a sense of adventure continued---ending only when Dad and Karl spent the rest of the vacation fighting over the villa's one and only bathroom after coming down with rather nasty food poisoning. It might have been the only vacation the trio took where---however inadvertently-all three got what they wanted: Frank spent the weekend, just him and his sons, Karl got chicken soup and tons of attention and sympathy from the pretty girls from the restaurant, and David got plenty of peace to finish his summer reading and visit the beach while the two of them prayed to the porcelain goddess…_

_More images followed in quick succession: Many little league games in which Dad insisted both Karl and unathletic David participate (Karl excelling, David being indifferent on good days and loathing the sport on bad days), many school tests (David excelling, Karl coasting through apathetically), David's every lecture to convince his brother of the importance of a good education being said to Karl's retreating back, Karl sneaking out to meet whatever girl had caught his eye at the time…and then there were the 'adventures'. The images and locations of their 'vacations' blurred together: The boat dad chartered to cruise the Greek Islands and the captain, of uncertain nationality, who spoke no English and despised tourists; the trip to the Super Bowl where David had annoyed Frank by reading a book and Karl had used his false i.d. to buy a beer and ended up yakking on some poor unsuspecting Patriots fans; the plane tour of South America that skirted too close to an active volcano for David's liking; another plane ride ending with a massive thunderstorm sending them plunging into the ocean; Floating and swimming against mercifully warm storm-generated waves…an island, dinosaurs that spoke English, dinosaurs that spoke Saurian, uniformed riders, and David standing before half the population of Waterfall City, signing his name in a book as Mayor Waldo greeted him, "Welcome, David Scott…"_

David _Scott_.

_"To our new rider!" David heard his own voice, saw his own arm-an arm wrapped in the bronze-orange uniform of a skybax rider---raise a glass._

_A large knot of skybax riders---_his _squadron, David's mind supplied, with a sudden feeling of camaraderie, of belonging---crowded into what looked like a dining hall chorused in answer, raising their own glasses: "To Alano!"_

_The big blonde guy was humbled, extremely embarrassed by the attention. He wore that expression of humility and pleased surprise from the day of his boxing match with David, when the Dinotopians had taken in the outcast Outsider, to the day when Rosemary and David proposed Alano take the flight training, to today---his graduation day. _

_Alano had surprised himself as how quickly and easily he'd assimilated into life with the 'topians. His time among Le Sage's pack was already like a past life---one he was glad to leave behind. Despite the unfortunate events surrounding David's first meetings with Alano, David and Rosemary had kept their word, and then some, helping him find a place for himself in the 'topians world. Being among people who were worth a damn and good as their word was a new and strange experience for the outsider, and he'd resolved to be worth their efforts. They'd gotten his foot in the door with Oonu and the skybax corps._

_The training was difficult, but Alano had sucked it up and pushed through. David and his wingmate, Romana Denison, in particular had become something of a new family, and they had kept at him all through the more difficult days of training. Romana was quite fond of telling Alano tales of the more harrowing days when she and David were in his place…stories that invariably ended with a groan and a "Don't remind me" from the off-worlder. _

_David couldn't resist teasing his friend a bit. "And, only how many weeks of training, Al?"_

_Al glared now and retorted: "Bugger off, Scott."_

_Standing between them, Romana quirked and eyebrow. That usually signaled trouble, David knew. "Ask David how many times _he_ had to stand on that platform before a pterosaur would accept him as a rider."_

_"No, don't ask David that," David disagreed._

_Alano had taken the bait. Turnabout was fair play, after all, and he was enjoying David's embarrassment almost as much as Romana. "Really now? How many times, mate?" _

_Romana grinned triumphantly._

"_Happy now?" David asked her._

_She looked pleased enough with herself. "Extremely." _

_Her work done there, she went to mingle with some of the other riders. Romana stopped long enough to offer him one last gleeful smirk over her shoulder. _

_The grin triggered a string of memories: Romana shouting encouragement from the sidelines as David practiced for weeks on end on the dummy pterosaurs (the Dinotopian answer to a mechanical bull, he supposed); Romana encouraging David to leap a chasm---with a dizzying drop off---while her vertigo-striken wingmate was having no part of it; David and Romana running through one of the villages, playing hide-and-seek with a T-Rex, trying to replace a malfunctioning sunstone; Romana coming to his rescue after a dogfight with a flight of pteranodons sent Freefall crashing to the earth; Romana mixing roots and herbs together as fast as her hands could move to help make the island's homeopathic cure for a bad asthma attack for her wingmate…_

"_She likes you, that one." Alano interrupted David's thoughts._

_David turned back to the blonde. "I think she just really enjoys making me cringe."_

_"I'm telling you---you should stop mucking with that matriarch's daughter and have a go at it with Romana. And quick, before Romana comes to her senses," Alano had advised him._

With the images in his mind, with Marion there, watching him, David could feel that his resolve was beginning to falter. This he couldn't stand, so he lunged for stern of the small boat, determined to cast off before she changed his mind. Undaunted, Marion raced past him to the bow, dug her heels into the dirt, and pushed with all her strength against him. In the resulting tug-of-war, the boat didn't move at all. "What do you think you're doing?" David snapped at her.

"Saving your life. You saved mine, after all. You were Karl and Frank's family. That means you were my friend. Even if you weren't, I still wouldn't let you get on that submarine. You're not going to kill yourself trying to cross the Razor Reef if I have anything to say about it!" she grunted, still shoving the boat. "Maybe you wouldn't listen to Karl or Noree, but you're going to listen to _me._"

"The concern's charming, really, but it's my life to risk, so thanks anyway…"

Marion stopped pushing and climbed into the boat.

David had no idea what to make of that. "…Okay, I'm getting mixed signals here."

"If you insist on getting aboard that submarine, I'm getting on, too. And I'll be at the bottom of the ocean with you when it scuttles on the reef. You're willing to risk your life, how about mine? If you really don't feel anything for me, then cast off and let's go."

He stopped pushing the boat, Marion saw. He didn't look happy about it, though. It didn't matter…she was getting through to him, that's what counted. She pressed, "Where are you going to go? I saw your face when I asked about your family that day. You don't have a family off-world, no one to go back to---so why are you set on killing yourself to get there?"

"To get _home_! Can you understand that!" he growled.

"This _is_ your home! You have a family here if you'd only believe it. Not Le Sage and Dane, Karl and Frank and J---" Marion barely caught that slip. "If you didn't have a connection to them, you wouldn't have found your way back into their lives…aren't you tired of being alone?"

David's reaction wasn't at all what she expected. His gaze turned cold as ice, and his features became stoic. He strode to the rear of the boat, lifted her bodily out of the craft, and set her on the riverbank. "I knew Scott would use that to manipulate me, but I didn't think _you_ would, Marion!" David accused as he shoved the boat the rest of the way into the water, leaving her standing there on the shore.

"You still think I'm trying to trick you! Why would I do that? What would I have to gain?" she defended herself.

"I have no idea! Maybe you want me to give back your medallion? Maybe you want to keep me out of your food lockers? Maybe it's just some 'cult-of-the-dinosaur' mentality thing where you use the Tohma Faiere to convince me I'm one of you because you want everyone to join your little 'utopia' society. Some criminal rehabilitation thing. I'm sure you think you'd be doing me some big favor, but it doesn't matter. I'm outta here!" He looked up long enough to see if she were going to try to jump into the boat again.

She had set the Tohma Faiere atop a large rock. As David watched, Marion picked up a second rock and hefted it above the faith stone as if making ready to smash it into a million pieces. "Nice try, but you forget, I've been bluffed by Le Sage, and she's the queen of theatrics..."

"The Tohma Faiere is a prized artifact of my people. It's the only way to correct the timeline. There are people like Dane who'd love to use its powers for their own ends. It's my duty to protect it," she said, not one iota of a bluff in her voice. She locked her gaze with his, letting him see that she was deadly serious. "But if I have to destroy it to prove to you that I'm not trying to trick you or manipulate you, then I will. I'll miss never getting to meet David Scott, your family will miss him, but I'd rather you were David Barrett for the rest of your life than dead..."

He raised his voice to drown her out. "Then, go ahead. It won't make any difference. Anyway, it looks to me like you and the dino-scout and Frank are getting along just fine without me, so why don't you..._what_?"

She hadn't moved to smash the stone. In fact, Marion was gaping at him, wide-eyed and stunned, like he'd just slapped her or something. He had no idea what he'd said to bring that look of---of hurt---to her face, but guilt bit at him. Instinct---or maybe it was intuition after all---took over, just as it had that day on the beach. He took a step toward her and started to apologize, but Marion spoke first.

"How can you say that?" she asked softly. "What kind of life have you had in this timeline---in _any _timeline—that makes you think a family would be 'fine' when someone they love has been..." She fumbled for the word she wanted. "...has been _stolen_! How can you be fine with having people you loved stolen from you? Because, I know I'm not."

Marion had realized, too late, the _full_ implications of her words. All she could do was wait to see what his reaction would be. His icy, hostile glare had softened...even the unreadable mask he usually affected gave way to a smile.

Something about David and Marion…Karl's mind raced, the ghost of one more image lingering just at the edge of his memory. Karl focused on it, willed it to play itself out.

_"How long are you going to keep this up, Karl?" _

It was David again...and he was definitely wearing a Dinotopian skybax rider's uniform in this vision…

…and Karl was not. He saw himself clad in loose, regular Dinotopian clothing.

_"I don't want to talk to you, David, I mean it!" Karl was weaving through the vendors of Waterfall City's marketplace, pointedly keeping his back to David…to his brother. Baby Twenty-Six was tucked beneath Karl's arm._

_"Yeah, I got that much," David shot back. He circled in front of Karl and physically blocked his path. "You know, if you've got a problem with me, fine, I'm used to your crap, but you don't have the right to this martyr act---which, by the way, is getting really old---and you don't have the right to yell at Marion like she's trash!" David had tried catching Karl by the arm, but Karl jerked free of his grip and pointed a warning finger at him._

_"Don't touch me, I'm serious." _

_Twenty-Six looked from Karl to David, catching the anger in the humans' voices, and made a noise of distress. The boys were arguing in front of a merchant's booth. The spat was drawing gazes from most of the passing shoppers. The saurian vendor said something in the dinosaur's native tongue that sounded like a reprimand and David answered back in the same language with what sounded like an apology. Karl, not understanding a word of the exchange with his modest grasp of the language, took advantage of the distraction and stormed off. David was right behind him._

_"You want to talk, then tell me what happened with you and Marion," Karl said._

_David frowned. He was getting sick of hearing that question from Karl whenever he spent any time alone with the matriarch's daughter. "I'm not telling you anything. It's none of your business, Karl."_

_Karl couldn't believe his ears. "None of my-I saw you two on the balcony last night, David. You were trying to steal my girlfriend! First time I turn my back---"_

Karl remembered it now. Even without the Tohma Faiere, Karl remembered the vision of Marion turning down his invitation to the Dawn Festival. Karl had gone looking for her and seen her, sitting with his brother---_very_ close to his brother---on Flippeau's balcony, looking quite cozy and happy there, and even laughing. They never once spotted him down on the street. All Karl remembered after that was seeing red and a fit of jealousy that had progressively soured his mood and temper. He'd sat in Flippeau's house---practically lying in wait---until almost sunrise for the two of them to come down from the balcony, had all but jumped down their throats as soon as they walked into the living room. All he'd managed to do was offend Marion with his questions and seriously tick off his brother.

_"Are you serious? Aren't you the guy who took her skinny-dipping while I had pneumonia? You want to play _that _card? How about the summer I spent with you and Frank. You told Sharon Carter that I had---what was it?---mono so you could take her to the Fourth of July fireworks?"_

_"That was different." Karl was surprised to find that they had circled through the marketplace and ended up back on the bridge. Romana and her pterosaur were standing there, waiting for David. Close enough to overhear but trying not to listen in, David's wingmate was shaking her head at the bickering siblings as if saying 'not again'._

_"And summer camp? Did you actually tell Kim McCormack I'd joined the French Foreign Legion after you locked me in that supply room? You want the rest of the list?"_

_"So this is retaliation?"_

_"Jeez, you are unbelievable! Get over yourself. Not everything on this planet revolves around you, Karl. I'm not apologizing to you. I didn't do anything wrong and neither did Marion. In the first place, you can't just declare her your girlfriend like she's a piece of land you're laying claim to. In the second place, if you're having trouble accepting that you're not the only one who cares about her, you're going to have to get some therapy or whatever you have to do to pry your head out of your ass and deal with it." _

_That was hitting too close to home. It was true---Karl would prefer believing that Marion had eyes for him and only him and that his brother was living in a fantasy world if he thought otherwise. But Marion had said it herself the night Karl and David had gone with Cyrus on that submarine: "I love you both." Even if Karl chose to dismiss it, the words still echoed in his mind. _

"_Marion's different..." he persisted._

_"Until the next hit-and-run victim comes along…" David turned around and walked away. He beelined for the spot where Romana and Freefall were waiting. _

_"…and you know it!" Karl followed him now. He didn't want to ask the question he most needed answered, but it was now or never. "Did she ask you to the festival? Cause she turned me down cold, and next thing I know I find her with you. I deserve to know if she blew me off because of you."_

_"You're an idiot, Karl," David informed his brother._

_Karl blinked. "I'm sorry? I'm what?" _

_"You asked Marion to the Dawn Festival. Do you have any idea what that means? I'm guessing not. You never bother to learn anything about the island that you don't absolutely have to know…" _

_"Don't lecture me!"_

_David turned so abruptly that Karl crashed into him. "The Dawn Festival is…it's not the homecoming dance, it's not about Karl showing up with the prettiest girl in school! It's for couples that are going to be bonded. Asking Marion to that is about as good as asking her to marry you. Did you know that?"_

_Karl had not known that. "Did she ask you?"_

_"Oh, give me a break…" his brother snapped._

_Romana glanced at David, raising an eyebrow as if she was also curious to know. David missed her look entirely._

_Twenty-Six could take no more of the humans' bickering. Her tiny---but considerably strong---teeth clamped down on Karl's hand and he yelped, letting go of her at once. The baby casmasaur scampered into the crowd._

_"That's great, David." Karl pushed his way after her, shouting: "Twenty-Six!" At that moment, he hated everything from the fact that he couldn't escape this island to the fact that David was right, to the bitter truth that, if his brother wasn't there, maybe Karl would be the one in the skybax corps, maybe he'd have Marion's undivided affections, and maybe his entire life would have been one hundred times easier. _

_He caught Twenty-Six before she could hide beneath one of the merchant's tables. "Where do you think you're going?" he scolded. It was only then that Karl realized David had also been chasing after the baby dinosaur. Karl was about to continue their argument, but didn't get the chance. From the crowd, a voice yelled, "Thief! Stop him!"_

_The shout gained the attention of everyone in the marketplace, even Karl and David. David must have spotted the trouble first, because he took off like a shot into the crowd, with Karl not far behind, slowed a bit by having to lug Twenty-Six._

_The thief didn't get far. He attempted to get past the crowd by running across the tabletops in the martketplace. Reaching the end of the row of tables, he leaped to the ground. He rounded a corner and was nearly plowed over by a cart laden with bushels of produce. He skidded to a stop only just in time, but the delay was all the Scotts needed. David tackled the smaller man hard and knocked him into a booth loaded with baskets and woven throw rugs. The collision briefly knocked the wind out of both of them. The thief recovered quickly, kicking and punching at David with one hand while still clutching the box with his other, trying to escape. _

_It was then that David had recognized the boy. _

"_Jack Barrett, you little…" David tried wrestling the box with the Tohma Faiere out of the outsider's grip. "I should have kn…."_

"_Sorry, but a man's got to look out for himself." Jack drew a bone dagger from his coat and was about to stab at David with it when Karl arrived. Karl spotted the threat to his brother and instinctively pounced, trying to tear the blade from Jack's hand. _

_Two against one were apparently too lousy of odds for the outsider. He dropped the box. It opened upon impact with the stone street, and the Tohma Faiere tumbled out. The meteorite began to glow a brilliant blue…_

_That was it! That was how the switch had happened!_

Karl's eyes snapped open. He was alone in the small chamber of the Sanctuary, with no idea how long he'd been locked in the Tohma Faiere's visions. The faith stone was gone, but it didn't matter. Karl didn't need to see anymore. He had the answers.


	19. Chapter 19

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Marion's words, coupled with the desperation in eyes that pleaded for him to _believe_ her, a look that was reinforced by the fear for him that telegraphed itself along her empathic connection to him, had erased all David's suspicions of her motives, had sucked the last residue of resistance right out of him. All thoughts of the boat and the submarine and off-world had vanished completely, he didn't even notice the water that was up to his knees as he stood beside the boat.

Marion was right---if there was even a chance that what Marion said was the truth, if his life had been stolen, screwed up by his own actions or the intervention of someone else, it _should_ make him angry.

His thoughts were full of blue visions from another lifetime and of friends and a family...friends and family he still didn't know if he believed were his own. It was a quirky and imperfect little family, no question…David hadn't been friends with Frank the Father the way he was with Frank the Friendly Tavern owner, and Karl the Brother had been every bit as aggravating as Karl the Gung-Ho Skybax Rider. Barrett remembered squabbling, was that all that they did as a family? Did David even want that life back if it _was_ possible to change history? He wasn't sure.

David would never know if he got into that boat, got onto that submarine, and sailed off this island. He wouldn't know if he didn't take a leap of faith, give the 'topians one more chance to prove what they were saying. But, leaps of faith weren't his style. It had been a long time since he'd had faith—real faith---in anything besides people's willingness to use him and his ability to keep them from doing so, and a longer time since he'd felt friendship and family beyond the fleeting bonds with a very few members of the pack…

_…If_ it was all true.

_Dinotopians don't lie._

David glanced down at the pool of river water swirling around the boat. He could have sworn for a minute there that he saw the reflection in blue of that other David---with Frank's eyes and wearing the skybax rider's uniform---staring back at him. Then the blue image faded and only the scarred, scruffy, dark-clad Outsider gazed back at him.

She wasn't even aware she was holding her breath while she waited, watching as, _very_ slowly, he finally released his grip on the small boat. It was carried away by the river's current, and with it all possibility of escape. He waded back onto the shore, striding directly for her. She backed up a step nervously, not knowing what to expect from him. He was gazing into her eyes with unsettling intensity. When he stopped, standing inches from her, she was afraid he might kiss her again.

Instead, he reached out to wrap his fingers around her hand, prying the rock she didn't realize she was still holding poised over the Tohma Faiere from her grasp. David dropped the rock onto the sand.

"Wh—what I meant to say was…" She began, cheeks flushing crimson under that stare.

He interrupted, and that enigmatic smile of his widened. "You know, I think I get it now."

She frowned, perplexed. "Get what?"

The Outsider raised his hand and tucked a wayward strand of her hair back behind her ear. _It might be worth spending the rest of his life as a dino-nerd on this sinkhole if it meant getting to see her every day. _"How Scott can give up on the real world so easy," was all David said. Then he withdrew his hand and brushed past her, heading back towards the Sanctuary.

Hands trembling just a bit, Marion retrieved the Tohma Faiere and followed him.

**10**

Romana Denison was afraid.

Not afraid of the carnosaurs, even though only a thin veil of sunstone light separated her from the predators. That kind of threat she understood; she could accept and cope with the kind of fear that they presented. This fear was different. It was from uncertainty born of questions she had no possibility of answering. It was like a cold fist around her heart, a knot burning in the pit of her stomach. It nagged at her mind with every Dinotopian—human or saurian--- and every home and farm she passed above. It dogged her every second of the flight from the Sanctuary of the Falls to the Scott's tavern.

She knew the myth of the Tohma Faiere…and until yesterday, she was convinced that 'myth' was all they were. Stories of meteorites that could reshape reality, that had wiped out entire species of saurian predators, with but a thought from their users couldn't be true. Not believing that the stones existed until yesterday, Romana had never given those rumors any thought at all.

She thought about those stories now. What if the attempts to destroy the carnosaurs had succeeded? She thought of saurian species erased in a bit of reptilian genocide by the wishes of ignorant humans, and felt a surge of pity for what would have been lost and forgotten forever. Thought of it and wondered what might have been so blithely and completely wiped from existence in this altered reality. The mental picture of the fabric of what she knew as 'reality' being torn, the timeline that made her world fractured and bent in a new direction, unsettled her deeply. What if other predators had been created, for instance? She imagined trying to do her job and protect Dinotopia with more than T-Rex and pteranodons to face down. What if there had been velociraptors to contend with when the sunstones failed? Or something worse? How many more people would have died? And what of that---were the people who would have been devoured if velociraptors existed here living lives that shouldn't be? What if there were no pteranodons and T-Rex at all? Nothing to fear? No reason for the Corps? What would her life be like then?

How many more splinters had branched off that first fracture in time? Who among the humans and saurians she was soaring above right now lived due to the faith stone's power? How many had been meant to survive? Was Romana meant to be alive now or should she have been killed by during an attack by one of the predator species?

The musings about what had changed before weren't as disturbing as the speculations about what was yet to come. If Marion was right---and Romana had no doubt of that---what happened when the timeline was corrected? Would Romana still exist? Would she still be a skybax rider? She couldn't imagine a reality in which she was anything else. Would her parents still be dead or were their deaths a fact only in this fractured timeline? Would she still hate Ganja fruit? And would she lose all her memories of this reality when it was repaired? Would she cease to exist due to the loss of memories of being this Romana or would she cease to exist because she hadn't survived in the 'real' timeline? What happened when whatever that Outsider did to the timeline now was undone?

_No, it wasn't just the Outsider's doing. The Outsider couldn't have known how to use the faith stone---how could he when he couldn't speak saurian or read footprint language? Karl was involved. She had seen the stone glow for him. And if Marion was sending her to fetch Jack, then the boy must be mixed up in this as well. David Barrett wasn't the only one to blame. Why did that make Romana feel better? Why was she leaping to his defense?_ Romana shook her head at her own ridiculousness. _You hate thieves, outsiders, and all other rule-breakers and troublemakers, remember? It doesn't matter if they have nice eyes or how handsome they are…_

It was too much to take in, the prospects were too chilling, so Romana did what she did whenever she was truly and deeply afraid: She fell back on duty. Being distracted by 'what ifs' was the fastest way to start second-guessing. Second-guessing lead to hesitation and death in a fight with the carnosaurs, and it would do her no good in this situation. The decisions were out of her hands, she could only do her job. That's what would help Dinotopia—help her friends—right now.

The Scott's tavern was darkened when Romana's pterosaur landed. That was unusual…even with the night approaching, Frank and Jack weren't the type to be abed at this early hour. There should be a few patrons still lingering, but the place looked deserted. _Maybe they were in Waterfall City, at Flippeau's or looking for Karl. That wouldn't be unusual at all._ She was just on edge because of the scuffle with Gabriel Dane that morning and her own musings about the Tohma Faiere. There was no reason why the stillness should alarm Romana.

But it did.

"Hello? Mr. Scott? Jack?" Romana called as she approached the tavern door---very slowly. She took her time, having a good look around the area for anything amiss. No one answered her.

Romana crept, careful not to even let the boards beneath her feet squeak, to the gull-wing doors. She squinted into the darkened tavern. The sunset light was fading and there wasn't so much as a candle burning to pierce the gloom. "Hello?" she called into the darkness.

A squeal---distinctly saurian---responded this time. There was the noise of pounding feet and a shape bounded out of the shadows. Sometime tiny and strong bowled into the skybax rider's legs and almost knocked Romana down. It was Twenty-Six, and the baby casmasaur was wild-eyed with fear. Her pterosaur bellowed in sympathy to the baby's agitation as Twenty-Six butted her head against Romana's legs and tried to climb into the human's arms.

Romana scooped up the tiny dinosaur, "Ssh!" It wasn't a noise of comfort---the saurian's terror warned the human that she'd been correct before…something was very wrong here. Romana needed the casmasaur to stop squealing and be silent, just in case whoever or whatever had frightened it was still in the vicinity…

As Romana's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could begin to discern objects inside the tavern. Nothing was amiss---no chairs or tables were overturned, nothing was broken, and there were no signs of a fight or an attack. The only anomaly was the complete absence of Frank or Jack. Romana left Twenty-Six outside the door before creeping into the tavern. She paused to pick up one of the chairs, ready to swing it if anything remotely unfriendly should lunge out of the darkness.

"Hello? Jack? Mr. Scott?"

Romana heard a thump. It had come from the floor.

No, it had come from _beneath_ the floor. How could---?

_The basement_! The previous owner, the man who had given Frank the tavern, had built a basement in which to hide during carnosaur rampages. That's what had saved Frank and Jack during the last sunstone failure while Karl and Romana were away holding off the T-Rex and pteranodons. Dropping the chair, Romana ran to the trapdoor and pulled it open.

Jack was down there---bound to a chair and gagged, illuminated only by one meager candle. He was kicked the table next to his chair to attract her attention. Still, Romana didn't jump blinding down there to help. "Jack? Is anyone else here?" she asked first.

Jack shook his head 'no'. She'd have to take his word for it. Romana climbed through the door and down the ladder into the basement. She removed his gag first, and then set about untying him.

"Dad!" Jack cried as soon as he could speak. "He took Dad!" The boy's face was streaked with tears and the ropes had chaffed his wrists, but otherwise he didn't look hurt.

"What? Who did?"

Jack reached into his shirt pocket, fishing for something. "Big guy. Dark skin. Built like a Humvee---"

Romana frowned, "A what?"

"---he said to give this to David Barrett when I saw him. That Barrett would know what it meant." Jack pulled one of Frank's playing cards from his pocket and gave it to the skybax rider. His eyes beseeched her to help.

Romana examined the card. It was the King of Clubs, and it had been defaced. Someone---Frank's abductor---had drawn a mangled arm on the King, along with adding a leg. The leg was in a shackle. A tiny T-Rex had been sketched behind the king. Romana had no idea what it meant. She hoped Barrett did.

"Why did he take Frank?" she asked.

"How should I know!" Jack snapped. "I gotta tell Karl! Wait—where _is_ Karl!" The boy was panicking, not that she blamed him. Romana took a firm hold on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Jack. He's waiting for you at the Sanctuary. I'll take you to him. We'll find your father, I promise."


	20. Chapter 20

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

"Are we bonding yet?"

"I can still kick your butt in this timeline, Scott."

The waiting was aggravating, but the silence had grown intolerable. There was nothing to do in the quiet but think, and the last thing Karl wanted right now was to be left to the wanderings of his imagination. He felt like complete crap at the moment, and thinking wasn't making him feel better.

It was only he and David Barrett in the main chamber of the Sanctuary, sitting on opposite sides of the room again, with the dino-human Sentinel monolith towering over them. The figure in black was leaning back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as though he was mesmerized by the elaborate carvings there. Karl knew he was avoiding speaking to him: Barrett hadn't said a word since he and Marion had returned to the Sanctuary to find Karl Scott waiting, much less since the matriarch's daughter had left the two would-be brothers alone in the chamber. He'd listened in stony silence the entire time Karl had explained what he'd seen---Jack's role in the switch that created this bizarre situation---to Marion and Noree.

Marion hadn't been as surprised as Karl had expected. "Then, Jack's the one we need to make the ritual work," she'd surmised.

"If we switch back, Jack goes back to being a thief. How am I supposed to do that to him? He's still my kid brother…in this reality anyway."

Karl paced, anxiety fueling nervous energy with no outlet. There was no one to blame, no one to yell at or threaten or arrest to make this situation change. He knew as well as Marion what had to be done, but his sense of duty to Dinotopia was in conflict with his loyalty to his family…and what about that? Even Karl's loyalty to his family was in conflict at that moment---loyalty to the family in this reality, the only reality he'd known up until yesterday, to his 'brother' Jack Scott and to Frank, warring with the knowledge that he was supposed to have the same loyalty to his 'real' brother, David Scott, who didn't even exist in this reality…not exactly.

He studied the brooding Outsider, mentally contrasting David Barrett to the David Scott that the Tohma Faiere had shown him. Barrett was so far removed from David Scott that Karl felt as though he were staring at a completely different person. _I guess I am, really. _It went deeper than the superficial difference like the beard and the longer hair, the more muscular frame, the obnoxious smirk, the runaway libido, the scars…._the wrong eyes_. This David was almost the antithesis of the nerdling older sibling Karl 'remembered' through the visions, the one with the overdeveloped sense of responsibility, the nose pressed into a book, the one constantly at odds with Dad, the one who wouldn't know what to do with a girl if one fell into his lap, the one who Karl trusted to have his back when dealing with violent Outsiders, with Karl's own hair-brained schemes. He'd helped Karl steal a sunstone at risk to his position in the Corps. He'd gone along with Karl's plan to break into Le Sage's hideaway, showing trust in Karl against his own better judgment with a simple, cheerful, "What did you have in mind, Mr. Bond?" David even had Karl's back against their own relatives if need be---even when Karl hadn't wanted him to or appreciated the interventions…

Karl glanced at his own flightsuit. _And David was the one Rosemary chose for the Skybax Corps._

Two sets of memories from two different lifetimes were vying for dominance in Karl's mind. How was he supposed to know what to think or feel? Part of Karl was pissed as hell at Jack---Jack _Barrett_---for creating this mess in the first place, for screwing with his family and almost destroying it altogether. At the same time, was it fair to punish Jack Scott for what Jack Barrett did by sending him back to the pack? Karl couldn't turn off his loyalty to his _brother_ Jack like he was shutting off a light just because some space rock said Jack was a bad guy. The idea of packing him off for a life of crime and torment from that psycho Dane felt like betrayal.

But wasn't Karl supposed to feel loyalty to David just as much as to Jack? David Scott hadn't deserved to be thrust into Barrett's pack life any more than Jack Scott deserved to be sent back to it now. David and Karl had their fights---pretty good ones at times—but they were brothers in the other reality every bit as much as Karl and Jack were now. They had just started to become friends since they were marooned on Dinotopia. Wasn't there supposed to be a bond there, too? Karl didn't know if he'd ever feel a bond to the self-serving, annoying, and irresponsible David in this 'reality' at all. He didn't see David Scott when he looked at David Barrett, and he sure as hell still didn't trust him

"We have no choice, Karl. The Tohma Faiere's spell has to be undone. It never should have been used in the first place," Noree said gently.

"There has to be a choice," he disagreed.

"We are responsible for the protection of Dinotopian and its artifacts. Our duty is clear--"

Karl whirled, staring down the saurian Keeper. "Don't tell me 'my duty'---"

"Noree! Karl!" Marion said sharply, before the bickering could escalate. Karl needed time to calm down…what they had to do was going to be difficult for everyone, but him most of all. Her heart broke for sympathy, made worse by knowing there was nothing she could do that would be of comfort. Noree was right---they had no choice about what was to be done. "We can't do anything until Romana brings back Jack. Until then, this fighting won't help. Noree, we'll consult the scrolls again, and speak to my mother…" Marion looked at Karl. "I can't promise Karl. We can't force you either. This concerns your family." She glanced sidelong at the silent Outsider, pointedly including him in the 'family' remark. "It would be better if you were the one to speak to Jack when he arrives. Jack can use the Tohma Faiere to see for himself. He may surprise you, Karl. We'll wait until you call for us."

With that, Marion had urged the saurian Keeper out of the chamber, leaving Karl and David alone. She must have assumed that, given the circumstances, the two of them would have lots to talk about. Instead, Karl had paced until his legs ached, and Barrett had stared at the ceiling.

Finally, Karl could take the silence no longer: "Is it as bad as I think it is?"

Barrett's eyes didn't waver from examining the ceiling. "Is _what_ as bad as you think it is, Scott?"

Karl forced himself to stop pacing and sat down on the bench opposite Barrett. "Jack's life. Jack _Barrett's_ life?"

_The pack life. _David didn't know how to answer that. _No, Scott, it's probably worse than you think it is._ How would that make the dino-scout feel any better? David didn't envy the younger man's predicament…he knew that _he_ didn't like the idea of sending a kid Jack's age back to Dane's version of 'guidance and teaching'. David had barely survived it and he had the benefit of being years older and better prepared mentally to resist the conditioning, tormenting, and brainwashing the psychotic Outsider could inflict.

David remembered his dino-scout alternate-reality self hounding the kid in that lifetime with the same relentlessness with which Karl Scott plagued Barrett in this one. David Scott hadn't understood how Jack could resort to stealing, how he could go along with Dane's indiscriminate butchering of the dinosaurs, why he couldn't just abandon the packs and turn to the Dinotopians for protection. David Barrett understood why Jack had obeyed, had been afraid to run, all too well. The idea of fixing the timeline and maybe losing eight months of bad memories with the pack didn't hold as much appeal for Barrett if trading his memories and gaining his freedom meant sending the kid back to Dane in his place.

The whole thing sucked. Was he supposed to tell Scott that it didn't?

Karl knew the answer without Barrett even speaking. He saw it in the scar on Barrett's eyebrow and the subtle limp in his walk...neither of which belonged to David Scott. His brother had a few battle scars---the worst being the three white lines across his chest where a pteranodon had raked him with it's claws---but David Barrett's eyes and injuries bespoke months of fighting to survive human and reptilian predators. "Never mind."

David finally looked away from the ceiling artwork to the skybax rider. "I'm not ready to give up this life of luxury anyway," he joked feebly.

Karl felt caught between the old 'rock and the hard place'. "What am I supposed to do? The little piker's still my brother---in this timeline…damn, how am I supposed to figure out situations like this! Things like this are only supposed to happen on '_Star Trek'_ or Disney channel movies!"

David shook his head. "You really are a nerd, Scott, know that?"

"Oh, I'm catching nerd-flack from Captain 'the Obo won't get me beat up at the school talent show'?"

Barrett winced, remembering that from the blue visions. He'd hope _that_ particular memory had just been a dream or something. "Oh God, that really happened?"

The silence settled in again. Karl felt like he was about to jump out of his skin and before he knew it, he heard himself asking: "So, were you the one who stole Dad's twelve-year-old Scotch and mixed it with Gatorade?"

David snorted, remembering a fragment of the vision Karl meant. "No, that would be you."

Karl nodded, "Right---you were the one who hid copies of 'Penthouse' in the laundry hamper?"

"No, that was you, too," David answered.

"What did you do, then?"

"Apparently, lots and lots of reading."

_That was certainly true_, Karl had to agree. "And I mixed up those tubes in Mr. Ramos' science class and stink-bombed the east wing of the high school, right?"

David didn't remember it that way. "No, I think that was me…"

Karl frowned. "Why do I remember it? I didn't go to your school, did I?"

"I think you were visiting for the summer while I took the college prep class."

"But what was I doing in the class with the stink bomb?"

Barrett actually smiled at that. "Laughing mostly." He covered his eyes, cringing at the memories the Tohma Faiere had conjured of his real self. "God, I'm a nerd."

"_From Clark Kent to Superman in three months,_" _Dad had described David in the real timeline._

"_Haven't you heard? Even in Dinotopia, nerds rule."_ _Karl had answered. _

Dad would have got on a lot better with this David, Karl realized. Correction, Dad _did_ get along better with this David. Karl remembered being best friends with their father, but Frank Scott and David Scott had been like oil and water, and Karl always felt like a mediator caught in the middle of their squabbles. Karl had always thought David went out of his way to be contrary with their father, that he blamed too many of his problems on their dad, that he didn't even try to see things from their father's point of view. Funny how living an alternate lifetime from David's point of view, being thrust into the role of the ultra-responsible Eldest Son with Frank's expectations to live up to, had changed Karl's mind about that.

"What are you bitching about? I'm _Dad_." Karl flinched at the truth of that remark. Nearly as unbelievable as David's transformation into this 'evil David' alternate version of himself was the Karl Scott in those blue visions---the Karl with the hero worship of their father, with Dad's knack for bouncing from girlfriend to girlfriend, with Dad's love of the outdoors, sports, and airplanes.

"That's not a bad thing you know. Frank---Dad---Frank…_crap_!" David didn't know what to call him. He still couldn't internalize the idea of being part of the Scott family. "The old man's all right."

_No_, Karl had to admit, _it hadn't been such a bad thing_. At least, he and dad had common ground in that reality. They were friends (hard though it was to believe). In this reality, with Karl thrust into David's place in the family…well, 'oil and water' was his relationship with their father now. Friendship had been lost with the involuntary switch of timelines. The thought brought a sudden ache to his throat.

Still, he couldn't resist teasing David, "When we switch back, I'll tell him you said so."

David gave him a warning glare. "Oh no you will _not_. Did Fr—Dad ride you about the whole 'joining the Dino-Scouts' thing as bad as he did me?"

Karl remembered the blue visions of David and their father having quarrels almost identical to the ones he had with his father over the whole thing. "Worse…I just never paid attention to him like you did. You think I was gonna let him talk me out of----stinky dinosaur hide and bumpy flights and freezing to death and jumpsuits that ride up into the unknown and not seeing Marion for days or weeks…."

"You hate it, don't you?"

_David didn't have to sound so gleeful about it._ Karl admitted, "Yes."

Sure enough, David was going to rub it in a bit, "After all that bugging me and nagging Rosemary to let you into the training program…"

Karl went on the defensive: "Hey, you don't get to give me the big brother 'I-told-you-so', 'serves you right', or 'now you know how I feel' lectures until you're _officially_ my big brother again!"

_So, Karl had accepted it---the whole 'brothers in an alternate lifetime' thing._ That was great for him, but Barrett still didn't know if he believed they were ever---or would ever be---brothers, that the 'topians weren't deluding themselves about what that space rock could do and working themselves up over nothing. He didn't know if he'd believe it until he saw it. Even if the space rock worked, David wasn't convinced that Karl was going to be able to go through with the ritual…not with little brother Jack in the middle of it. If he were in Karl's place, David didn't know if _he'd_ go through with it if it meant sending his younger brother to the----

_Wait a second, where had _that_ instinct come from?_

Okay, maybe some small part of him wanted to believe it, believed…in the potential powers of the space rock, but not in Karl Scott's ability to go through with the ritual.

"Was it that you—the _other_ you---really wanted into the skybax corps, or was he just trying to piss off David Scott?" Barrett finally asked to distract himself from those thoughts.

"Do you remember the faith stone showing you those plane rides Dad took us—them—whoever--on?" Karl asked him.

"Vividly." David shuddered just thinking about it. Apparently, he hadn't liked heights or flying in that lifetime anymore than he did in this one. "So, you wanted to follow in the old man's footsteps? Cat's in the cradle and all that stuff?"

"Guess I had a way better relationship with him in that reality. I wanted to be just like him---only _you_ got to be the hero pilot flying in on the cool dinosaurs to save the day, and _I _got to be ordinary old 'of the Earth' Papa Scott to a dinosaur."

Barrett heard the bitterness behind the envious words. He remembered Karl in the other timeline moaning and complaining about joining the corps, trying to get Marion to use her influence to get Rosemary to change her mind, but from David Scott's perspective, it had been the jealous, petulant little brother trying to horn in on the one distinction his older brother had managed to achieve. Did Karl think David wouldn't understand that just because he didn't hero-worship their father the way his younger brother did?

Neither did David remember the younger Scott being a slouch as far as the 'hero' thing went. As for himself, Barrett still couldn't imagine being a dino-scout, hero, or the likes. In this life, he was as far removed from being 'heroic' as could be---no, David Scott wouldn't have liked any of the things David Barrett had done to survive on this island. A more unlikely candidate for the roll of Dinotopian dino-scout hero didn't exist. But then again, was it so unlikely? He remembered that Freefall had been his pterosaur, or 'saurian partner' as the 'topians called them, in the 'real' timeline. David Scott had stayed in the corps partially to make Marion happy, partially in an attempt to gain his father's approval, partially just to prove to himself that he could do it, and partially because he felt at home there in a way he hadn't anywhere else. But, here he was in this fractured reality, nowhere near being in the corps, and he had still ended up being Freefall's rider---vertigo and flying aversion and all. _Guess it was one of those 'you can't escape your destiny' things the movies always talked about._

"Why didn't you say so before?" David asked him.

Karl shrugged, "I don't think we were exactly confidantes."

"You're sure it wasn't just to piss me off?"

Karl smiled evilly, "Not _just_ to piss you off…that was a bonus. Hey, do you remember what you and Marion were doing on that balcony? The night before…you know, the switch?"

Barrett returned the smile of pure evil. "Yep." That was all he was going to tell the dino-scout. Karl had certainly tortured David Scott enough with his escapades with the matriarch's daughter. _Well, paybacks were a bitch..._

Karl gave up and went back to the matter at hand. "Think there's any way they'll let us switch back and leave Jack one of the good guys?"

David wished he could say 'yes'. It would have made him feel better about the idea of switching back, too. "I seriously doubt it. Like you said, it's got to be one of those 'contaminating the timeline' _Star Trek_ deals."

"You really are a nerd, Barrett," Karl grinned.

"I'm aware of that."

There was the pounding of running feet and the boy in question suddenly burst into the main hall, yelling, "Karl!" Romana, Noree, and Marion were hurrying to catch up with Jack. The boy was ashen-faced and wild-eyed. Terrified.

Karl jumped to his feet at once. "Jack, what's the matter?"

Jack was out of breath, either from running or from fear. Karl didn't know which. "He took Dad!"

"Dad?"

Barrett got to his feet now. "Frank? I mean Dad---I mean Frank---I mean…damn it!" _I'm never going to get used to this…_

"Dad," Karl reminded him.

"Don't help, Scott."

Karl grabbed Jack by the shoulder to try to calm him down. "It's okay. Who took Dad?" What are you talking about?"

Jack waved his hands, as if that was going to make his words any clearer. "Big guy. He whacked Dad on the head. He tied me up." The boy pointed a finger accusingly at Barrett, pure hatred in his eyes. "He was _your_ friend!"

_My friend?_ David didn't know what the hell the kid meant by that. "That can't be. What do you mean?" By way of answering, Romana passed the defaced playing card to the Outsider.

"Your friend said I'd better give you that if I want Dad back. That you'd know what to do," Jack informed David.

David studied the drawing on the card and then swore under his breath. Jack hadn't been misinformed---Barrett _did_ know who had made the artwork and precisely what it meant. "Payden."

Karl's questions came, rapid-fire: "Where's Dad? Who's 'Payden'? Another Outsider buddy of yours?" Anger flared, however unreasonable, at Barrett. Karl had told his father that having the Outsiders for patrons would be trouble, but Frank hadn't listened. This was exactly what he'd been afraid would happen. "If something happened to Dad because he was your friend…"

"He wasn't---I didn't know----"

"What the hell does he want with Dad! Is he a freak like Gabriel Dane?" Karl snatched the card from the Outsider's hand and stared at it, baffled. All he could tell was it sure looked like some kind of threat. It was obvious Barrett got more from this card than he did.

David wished Karl would shut up and let him think for a second. "No, he's not my friend. He doesn't want anything. He only wants to kill me, what else do you think he wants? Why else would he give me this instead of you?" _'Why' was a very good question…why _did_ Payden take Frank to get at David? What made them think that David would---_

Then Barrett remembered: Robere and Miguel had seen him playing cards with Frank Scott. They'd seen him protect Frank from that knife. They must have figured Frank was David's friend---a weakness---and told Dane about it. David had sent Alano and Freefall into hiding, had warned Le Sage, had thought they were the only people Gabriel could use to get to him. It hadn't even crossed David's mind that they'd use Frank. Robere might have been dense as a phone pole, but he'd found an Achilles Heel of Barrett's that David himself didn't even know he'd had. No wonder Dane acted like he'd had the upper hand at their meeting that morning: If Payden had Frank as hostage, then Gabriel _did_ have the upper hand. One hint of betrayal from David and all Dane would have to do is reveal his ace in the hole and Barrett would have had to hand over the medallion---right before Dane stuck his dagger in David's ribs for 'thanks'.

Why keep Frank now? Le Sage would have found Alano and Freefall, would have the medallion. Was Dane still thinking they would double-cross him once they had the submarine?

_No, that wasn't it_…_there had to be something else._ This card meant that Payden was keeping Frank at the pits in the hunting grounds...the same hunting grounds where Gabriel had lost most of his hand, courtesy of David Barrett. Obviously, Dane wasn't as ready to forgive David as he'd let on at their meeting that day. Payden was luring David to the hunting grounds so he could repay Barrett in kind for the damage he'd caused---to Dane's body and to his power among the Outsiders. Repay in kind? No, repay with interest---Payden never hunted unless he meant to kill. Gabriel had probably just been waiting until he had the medallion to spring this trap on David. "And I'd rather deal with Dane than with Payden," David muttered.

"Why?" Karl asked, forcing himself to calm down. Blaming David wasn't going to help. Whoever this guy was, Scott could see the Outsider was nervous now. The last time he'd seen someone scare David, it was Gabriel Dane. If this guy was worse than Dane…Karl didn't want to think about it.

"Because if Dane decides to kill me, I can usually negotiate a way to change his mind. If Payden decides to kill me, about all I can negotiate is where and how," David answered. "The good news---for you anyway---is that Payden isn't quite as messed up as Dane. He's not going to kill Frank if he gets me. There'd be no reason to. When he has me, he'll let Frank go."

_Was that supposed to make Karl happier about the whole situation_? "This 'Payden' has no reason to kill you, does he?"

"Dane asked him to kill me. He doesn't need another reason," David said flatly.

Karl stared Barrett right in the eyes. There was not a hint of lie or exaggeration in the Outsider's face: That joker really meant to use their Dad as bait to kill David. "Jeezus, you're serious aren't you?"

Silent until now, Marion shuddered in revulsion. "Barbaric! Karl---"

"I'm on it." Karl nodded to Romana. The two riders headed for the door. "I'll get Pterra. 'Payden' can't hide from the entire skybax corps. Barrett can tell us where to look…"

David whistled as loud as he could, halting everyone in place. "Whoah, kids, settle down! This is an invitation for me. _Just_ me. FYI, anyone showing up with or instead of me is all the reason Payden will need to get rid of Frank."

"Well, he's not getting you!" Karl snapped. Romana and Marion nodded their agreement.

Not up to speed on the whole time-switch-lost-family thing, only Jack was unmoved. "Why not? This loser for Dad? Sounds like a fair trade to me!"

"Jack, you don't know what you're talking about…" Karl started.

Jack argued, "I know you're pissed at Dad, but if it's him or _that_ guy---" He jerked a thumb at David.

Marion had a better idea. "No one needs to go." All eyes looked to her, waiting. She explained: "When the timeline is reset, Frank will be fine. He won't have been abducted to begin with...he'll probably be returned to wherever he was when the switch took place."

"What if he hurts Dad?" Karl asked warily.

"Ending the spell will restore the proper timeline. Physical consequences only apply to you and David and Jack. Frank should be fine." Marion said.

"'Should'? As in you're guessing?" Karl didn't like taking the chance of that.

"Should. But if Payden hurts one of you---" She looked from Karl to David and back, concern for them both flooding her eyes. "—you _could_ die and remain dead in the real timeline."

"Is that like 'if you die in a dream, you die in reality', that kind of thing?" David asked.

She nodded, "Something like that."

"Swell."

"If you're right about the switch that is." David couldn't believe they were suggesting this. "You want to bet Frank's life on a magic rock?"

Karl pointed out, "You want to bet it on your buddy Payden's word?"

"Not so much," David admitted.

Jack urged, "So, do it then! If it gets Dad back, fix the timeline with the freaky space rock!"

Karl raised his voice: "_Jack_!" The kid quickly shut up and raised both eyebrows at his older brother. Karl felt like crap about what he had to do now. "I have to tell you something first."

Marion removed the faith stone from her pocket and held it up: "Maybe it's better if you _show_ him, Karl."


	21. Chapter 21

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

There was another flutter of wings, but much smaller and lighter wings this time. Alano looked up and saw a very tired-looking messenger parrot bobbing through the trees. The bird spied the human and landed with great relief at Alano's feet. "Finally! Message for Gabriel Dane."

Alano was suspicious at once. "I'm Gabriel Dane."

"Are you sure? I was told to look for a man who was tall, blonde-haired, and _skinny_," the bird emphasized the last bit.

Alano picked up the bird by its neck. "Listen up, little birdie, you give me my message or---well, my off-worlder friend tells me that birds taste real nice if they're plucked and cooked over a fire…and I've got me a fire right over there."

"Well, I never!" The bird tried to regain its composure in the face of such barbarism. "Ahem. Message from Payden Boreal: _Have taken captive and sent message. Barrett won't be making the trip with you, as requested. Wish you a safe journey. May we succeed in our mutual endeavors this night._ End of Message. If you have a reply, it will have to wait until morning. I'm off-duty." Alano released the bird. The parrot took off to roost in the safety of the tree-tops.

The outsider cursed every foul word he knew, and then invented a few new ones. "I knew it! Didn't I warn him? Bloody hell! All right, think man…"

Still concealed by rocks and brush, Alano managed to get Le Sage's attention without alerting Gabriel, who had his back to the undergrowth and the husky outsider. Le Sage didn't react with anything but the slightest arch of her eyebrow, but she watched the careful set of hand signals Alano made (something David felt it was important to teach the pack for---well, for just this sort of occasion---from the off-worlder sport called 'baseball'). She scratched the brim of her nose in answer. Alano waited behind the rocks while she said something that caused Dane to nod. She rose from the campfire and made her way, unhurried, to join Alano. He filled her in on the bird's message.

As it turned out, she knew a few curses that he didn't. When he finished, she pursed her lips and was silent for a long while. Her thoughts were obvious in the way she looked from Alano and Freefall to the submarine and the rising water of the cove. As the silence dragged on, he grew more and more certain she was going to say "So?" or something like that, and go on her way. She had the sunstone medallion---and why in God's name David had trusted her with it, Alano couldn't fathom---and she had the submarine. It wasn't like she was above walking over David to get off the island. Alano didn't even know if it was possible to get to David before Payden now, but he intended to try with or without her help.

"How long before the tide comes in?" she asked.

It was so out of the blue that the question took a second to sink in. "The tide? What---the boat can wait until---"

"How long?"

Alano heaved a major sigh. "Another hour, I'd guess."

"Not enough time." She'd reached the same conclusion he had. He braced himself to refuse her orders to abandon their friend. "I guess we're leaving tomorrow instead."

Alano gaped. "What?"

"I said: Go get David," she clarified. It was a simple decision, and she was sure she'd regret it. But, she'd made her deal with David before the two of them had made their agreement with Gabriel Dane. Even if their agreement didn't take precedence, Le Sage would much rather be stuck on the sub with Barrett than with Dane. And even if all that weren't a factor in her decision, David was under her protection, one of her pack by virtue of his deal with Le Sage. Double-crossing him was double-crossing her. Whether she was to be on the island one more hour or the rest of her life, she would have the respect befitting her station. Murdering one of her pack or someone under the protection of her pack wasn't respectful at all, and, as a pack leader, she simply couldn't allow such treachery to go unanswered.

"But, it's getting dark. I'll never be able to reach Waterfall City before Payden gets to--."

Le Sage nodded to the albino pterosaur. "You can if you fly. If you don't mind the smell."

Flying through carnosaur territory with night approaching? That sounded like suicide. But she was right, it was that fastest way. Besides which, Alano had no idea where Payden had taken David, but Freefall always seemed to be able to find Barrett no matter where he was. Must be that empathic 'of the Sky' connection David had with the pterosaur.

Alano asked Freefall, "You up for it, beastie?" The pterosaur bobbed its head. "I guess that's a 'yes'. The carnies…"

She yanked the pendant from her neck. "This should discourage them…" The sunstone flared bright as a star against the fading afternoon light. She pressed it into Alano's hand. "And don't even think of double-crossing me, or you and Barrett are both going to be hanging for T-Rex bait in front of my castle."

This Alano believed. "What about Dane?"

"I think he and I need to have another chat." There was something in her eyes that made Alano wonder if he wasn't going to be safer tangling with the carnies than Dane was going to be answering to Doris Le Sage.


	22. Chapter 22

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**11**

_"Ow, ow, ow, ow...lemme go! I can walk on my own, you know!" _

_Romana Denison ignored the complaints of fourteen-year-old Jack Barrett, who was squirming as she hauled him by the scruff of the neck into the Scott Tavern. The woman's grip was like a vice, meant to convey her displeasure to the boy. Walking in behind them, her wingmate, David Scott, was still rubbing the spot on the back of his head where Jack had bonked him with a piece of firewood._

_The group's noisy arrival interrupted the only occupants of the tavern---David's father and younger brother---who were clearing off tables and putting away dishes in preparation to close up the tavern for the night. From his usual place behind the bar, Frank glanced at the trio, sized up the situation in a microsecond, and circled around the bar to meet them. His main concern was inspecting the bump on the back of David's head with a frown. "What happened? You okay?"_

_David winced when Frank pressed a dishcloth over the small gash. "Yeah, just great."_

"_It's barely a scratch. These two ganged up on me. No one asked me if I was okay," Jack pouted._

_"Noticed that did you?" Romana deposited him on a chair at the nearest table._

_David explained, "Your Outsider buddy decided it was easier to rob Earth Farm--_again_---than work there and just about cracked my head open when we caught him."_

_Jack swallowed. Frank Scott had a good reputation in the packs and was generally known to be friendly to the Outsiders, adopting a "live and let live" attitude about the differences between the ways of life of the packs and the ways and philosophies of the 'topians. The Outsiders were as welcome as the 'topians at his tavern---as long as they didn't cause trouble for him or his sons. Le Sage had broken that rule trying to fix the fight between David Scott and the outsider Alano by trying to drug David, and Jack had overheard Frank warning her in no uncertain terms never to mess with one of his kids again. Fearing Frank's wrath---especially with the glare the older man wore at that moment--- Jack quickly added, "I'm not a farmer. I was hungry." _

_Karl Scott was there too, with that ever-present baby casmasaur of his sitting at his heel while he wiped off the tables. She growled at Jack when he gave her a look of disdain, and Karl scratched the scalie's head to calm her down. "And you brought him here why?" Karl asked David. Karl didn't look mad, but then, he was probably used to hearing stories about Jack's misdeeds by now. Like his father, Karl tended to be accepting of some of the antics of the outsider packs. Karl was known to bend-or break---a few 'topian rules himself from time to time. That was one of the reasons Jack respected Frank and Karl. David was another story. He was the worst sort of off-worlder as far as the fourteen-year-old was concerned---an off-worlder who'd turned scalie-lover almost as soon as his feet hit the island. Plus, at least once a month, he and that Romana Denison popped up on those flying scalies of theirs to screw up what should have been simple and harmless tasks that Gabriel assigned to Jack. _

_David pointed to Frank, but commanded Jack: "Show him."_

_This wasn't going to do anything to get rid of Frank's angry glare, Jack knew, but it was better he fished the item from his pocket of his own free will. He figured Romana would twist his arm in every possible way if he balked. It was just a little thing, really, a ring that the off-worlders used to hold their keys. Frank had left it unattended one night when Jack visited the tavern. Jack had pocketed it, with every intention of returning it…well someday. It was a little compass, cracked and broken now. Jack's interest had been the reverse side of the compass, where pictures and words in a language he couldn't read had been etched onto the silver backing. He couldn't read Dinotopian footprint language, much less the multiple languages of the off-worlders. It was the picture the boy had wanted. The picture was of someplace off-world, therefore it fascinated the fourteen year old. All things off-world interested him. He had stared for hours at the etched image of the building with the broken pillars that sat at the top of some sort of hill, and he had wondered about the key on the ring and what lock it might have opened when the Scotts were off-world._

_Sure enough, when Jack returned the compass, Frank looked even more angry. "What---where did you get this?"_

_Jack felt an unfamiliar emotion: Shame. "I'm sorry, it just..." he stammered._

_"Jumped into your pocket?" Karl guessed._

_"Can it do that?" Jack asked._

_David shook his head, the motion making him grimace. "I don't have time for this. We have to get back to the base. Nice patrons, Dad." _

_Frank argued, "You're not going flying with that knot on your head!"_

_At the table, Karl made a face. "Here we go again…" he said just loud enough for Jack to hear._

_"I'm fine and we've got prep work for the expedition to finish. We just dropped by to drop off Sticky Fingers here," David insisted. Behind him Romana smiled patiently and shrugged at Frank, apologizing for her wingmate's stubbornness._

_"It wouldn't kill you spend some time here once in awhile, would it?" Frank asked. "You at least planning to let us know before you go flying off to God-Knows-Where next month?"_

_David paused halfway to the door, looking almost guilty for just a moment. "We'll see."_

_Jack whined, not wanting to interrupt and draw their attention back to himself, but not wanting to be left alone with Frank---not while the older man was still angry with him. "How am I getting back to Earth Farm?" he whined._

_Romana wasn't amused. "If you come near Earth Farm again without intending to put in an honest day's work, I'll make you pay for your food by cleaning up after every pterosaur in Canyon City. Starting with mine."_

_Karl reached across the table and cheerfully patted Jack's shoulder. "That ought to take the edge off the ol' hunger, right Jack?" He followed his brother and Romana out the door. "David, hold on. I want to talk to you."_

_Jack rose from the chair and tried to make his escape. "Right, well, looks like I'll be walking..."_

_Frank wasn't _that_ distracted. "Sit!" he barked._

_Instantly, Jack sat. In his haste, he stepped to close to the casmasaur and she promptly nipped him hard on his calf. "Ouch! Damn scalies!" Jack rubbed his leg. "Saurian life partners…no thank you. Look, Frank, I'm sorry about the key ring. I meant to give it back..."_

"_Don't give me excuses. You take responsibility for your own actions. I don't care if you meant to give it back, you shouldn't have taken it in the first place. I believe in second chances, but if you want to hang around my tavern or hear about off-world, you're going to have to lose the kleptomania. Quickly." Frank sat down across from the teenager, studying him as if carefully choosing his words. "I know David can get a little--enthusiastic---about sticking to the rules, but he's right. You can have a job at Earth Farm any time you want. Rosemary can arrange it. There's no reason for you to be stealing."_

_Jack snorted. "No way!"_

_"Why not?"_

_Jack would never have been interested in farming, but that wasn't the only reason he had to---appropriate---some 'topian property now and then. He had duties to his pack. It was easy for the Scotts to preach. They didn't know what life in the packs was like. Jack would bet anything, if he had anything to bet, that they'd have different attitudes---especially that David Scott---if _they_ had someone like Gabriel Dane to answer to. Jack would love to see one of them say no to Gabriel one time and have the pack leader chain them to the hunting pits---to watch how fast they changed their minds about the rights of scalies and the evils of stealing. _

_No, Jack reconsidered. Frank was all right and Karl was all right. Maybe that wouldn't be so funny after all. For an instant, Jack had the fleeting wish that he'd been born part of their family instead of an orphan on this awful island with only the pack for his clan. But still, the Scotts shouldn't be telling him what to do. _

_Frank's harsh tone softened. "You scared of Le Sage?"_

_Jack groaned. "No way."_

_"Someone besides Le Sage?" Frank pressed._

_Jack didn't want to tell Frank about the packs. Frank was just the sort to take it on himself to do something about it if he knew some of the stuff the pack members were capable of. Jack was scared of what Gabriel or Payden would do if the off-worlder interfered in the business of their pack. "Frank, trust me, you don't want any part of it."_

_Frank didn't let it go so easily. "I'll help you if you want."_

_"I don't want. But thanks anyway."_

_Frank sighed, but then nodded, respecting the teenager's wishes for the time being. Jack wasn't his son, he couldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do. To Jack's shock, the off-worlder stood up, moved to rummage for something behind the bar, and returned to the table with a gift for the boy. It was an off-worlder magazine, water-damaged but still legible. Jack couldn't read the language, but it was full of pictures of machines he knew were called 'motorcycles'. He felt himself grinning like a halfwit._

_"I traded for this last time I was in Waterfall City. Thought you might like it," Frank said._

_Jack turned the pages carefully. He feared ripping them. When he reached the last page minutes later, he closed the magazine and tucked it carefully into the tattered bag slung over his shoulder for safekeeping. "Frank, thanks."_

"_You're welcome."_

_Sensing the older man was in a better mood now, Jack dared to ask. "Is it okay if I go?" At Frank's nod, the boy stood up. He was about to head for the door, until he saw David and Romana were still out front. David and Karl were having some sort of heated discussion. Romana was standing a little ways off from them, looking at them as though she were watching bickering children. " Uh, could I go out the back door?" Jack added._

_Frank grinned at that. "Go ahead. And Jack?"_

_Jack glanced back at the off-worlder. "Yeah?"_

_"Mess with one of my kids again, and you're not going to have to worry about dealing with Gabriel Dane anymore. You'll be dealing with me. Got it?"_

_Okay, so he knew about Gabriel…so much for keeping Frank in the dark. Jack guessed he shouldn't have been surprised…there wasn't much Frank didn't hear with all the outsiders who passed through the tavern. Jack hoped he was smart enough not to mess with the pack leader at least. "Yes, sir."_

_"Good." _

_Leaving it at that, Jack slipped out the back door of the tavern. He could hear the Scott brothers arguing even there behind the building._

_"---so what? You're okay with getting Alano into the corps, but not your brother?" Karl was almost yelling._

_Jack shook his head. Maybe he should reconsider the whole wishing he were part of the Scott family thing…._

The barrage of blue images from the faith stone shifted again. The tavern in the forest faded and was replaced with the mental picture of the ocean.

_Jack saw himself, still in the outsider garb, on a beach he recognized as Gull's Bay. He knew that this memory was from weeks before his conversation with Frank at the tavern. Gabriel had taken the pack there all the time, certain that Cyrus' sub was there. He had the men in the pack swimming the bay from sunrise to sunset, looking for the boat. It was fine with Jack, because the teenager could slip away to the nearby rocks. That afternoon, he was trying to look through a book that had washed up with the morning tide._

_"What have you got there!"_

_Jack almost had heart failure at the shout and made a hasty effort to stuff the object in question back into his pack. He'd tried to be careful about sneaking to the rocks---had kept one eye over his shoulder for any sign of pursuit, be it human or reptilian. He hadn't wanted to be found with his treasures, especially not by his pack, fearing reprisal for wasting time on what the pack acknowledged to be 'the worthless hobbies of the lazy or the useless'. Gabriel and Payden would be mad enough that Jack hadn't got one scrap of food from Earth Farm thanks to David Scott and Romana Denison. _

_Jack didn't secure his treasure fast enough. A dirty hand reached over his shoulder and snatched the flat case from his grasp. Jack knew that hand and the voice that had interrupted his quiet time on the tiny beach. He was lucky that, of anyone in the pack, Dayel had been the one to find him with that particular object. He was Payden's teenage son, but he wasn't nearly as scary as his father. That didn't mean the older boy wouldn't go running back to the pack, Gabriel, and his dad, and tell them all what their youngest member had been doing. _

_Jack stumbled to his feet, "Give it back, Dayel!"_

_Dayel had no intention of doing so. As Jack snatched at the magazine, he ended up grasping Jack's pack and upending it, spilling more of the boy's treasures onto the sand. Jack managed to retrieve the magazine only because a different object drew Dayel's attention. The older teen bent to pick up the fallen item, and turned his back to Jack, using his larger frame to block Jack's attempts to take back the rest of his belongings. _

_The object was small, flat, and square shaped, made of some hard, translucent material. It looked like a box, but Jack couldn't figure anything skinny enough to fit into such a tiny and flat case. The box had a picture on its front---a strange symbol that Jack didn't recognize. He knew the lettering was another of the myriad off-worlder languages. When Dayel opened the case, he saw more lettering printed on the reverse side of the picture and a round, shiny disk with still more off-worlder words printed on it. _

_The box was Jack's favorite of his collection. Jack once had asked Frank to translate some of the words printed on the box. Frank called it a 'music cd' box and obliged with the translating. The cover of his particular box read: 'Shō: The Shō Must Go On'. On the inside, there was a small collection of poems. Frank had called the poems "songs" and the songs "noise" and "not real music". Jack didn't know what that meant. He liked the "songs" In fact, Jack had memorized every one of the 'songs'. His favorite was the one called 'End of My World': _

'_Time is ruined, you can't go back. Storms are brewin', the world's off track. _

_this life's over, I'll hit the road. One more rover, who's sold his soul.' _

_Dayel's brow furrowed, betraying his confusion. "What is this thing? This is off-worlder junk, isn't it?" _

_Jack was pale from fear, but he still wrestled with determination until he pried the object from Dayel's grasp. "It's mine now." _

_He knew how that poet felt. The 'song' titles were repeated on the back of the box, along with a list of names and dates. Jack had two 'music c.d.s'. His other 'c.d'. had a cover that read: 'Cursed Chicken: A Fox in the Henhouse'. The picture was a drawing of a chicken, with spirals where his eyeballs should have been, being chased by a fox. Jack had empathy for the chicken in the drawing---he'd been chased by hungry predators in his life, too._

_He only wished he could hear these 'songs', could hear their melodies in his mind. Frank was no help, professing that he didn't listen to music like that. Jack wasn't about to ask Karl Scott or, worse, David Scott about the songs. He wondered if the off-worlders' music was like the music on the island. Judging by the strange instruments the off-worlders pictured on the c.d.s were playing, he didn't think so._

_Carefully, almost lovingly, Jack closed the flat box and tucked his prize into his backpack. All the off-worlder treasures he'd found on beaches or traded for with people in the villages were stored in that pack, which he always kept slung over his shoulder or very close by just so that none of his pack members ever found his collection. Besides his two music c.d.s and the magazine Frank had given him, Jack had found a short-sleeved black shirt with a strange machine pictured on the front and the words "Harley-Davidson" on the back, an flat gold disk attached to a hoop (another 'key ring') that read 'Kolika Louise', a very water-damaged off-worlder book written in an off-worlder language Jack hadn't learned but which was very pretty to look at, a pen that Frank interpreted to read: 'Johnson's Auto-Rama, Dearborn, MI', and a toy turtle that bobbed its head at the slightest motion._

_"If Dane and my father catch you wastin' valuable space lugging useless off-worlder junk, they'll skin you, Jack. You know better," Dayel warned. Despite his warning, he didn't seem to be in a particular hurry to run and rat out Jack to the pack leaders, for which Jack was grateful. _

_Gabriel Dane and Payden Borael had taught him since the day they found him as a toddler, orphaned by a T-Rex attack, never to waste space and energy carrying things he didn't need for survival. Dayel was right to say they would have skinned him if they knew what was in his pack---skinned him or made him repeat their 'survival course'. Jack shuddered at the notion. Still, he could not bring himself to part with his treasures, so instead he went to great effort to make sure they remained hidden. To his way of thinking, the objects did serve a purpose in his survival: They kept him sane; they gave him hope. Hope that, if there really were places beyond Dinotopia where scalies were extinct, then maybe Jack would find a way someday to get off this island and go find those places. No matter how Jack tried, he couldn't imagine a life not spent looking over his shoulder for predators of the human or carnie variety or of being able to go wherever he pleased without killer thunderstorms and razor reef to block his path._

_"Don't you ever wonder, Dayel?" Jack asked._

_The older boy raised an eyebrow. "About you being too reckless? Absolutely."_

_"No. About…what this music sounds like? About what their cities look like? About off-world?" Imagining the world beyond Dinotopia was Jack's only real means of escaping his hellish life on the island, even if his obsession bordered on voyeurism. He distracted himself for hours with the most insignificant found object from off-world. It was a pleasant diversion, as long as he didn't dwell on the circumstances that caused the off-worlder objects to wash up on Dintopia's shores. He always told himself the treasures fell from passing boats that were _not_ scuttled by the Razor Reef or passing planes that did _not_ perish in the endless thunderstorm. Thief he may be, but he was an extremely superstitious about claiming possession from dearly departed owners. Besides, after fourteen years on this island, he had enough nightmarish images in his brain without conjuring new ones with his imagination._

_Dayel grinned a smile that was missing many teeth. "What? Off-world with no scalies? Not 'wonder', I _dream_ about it." His father might not have cared about the world beyond the Razor Reef, but Dayel would have gone to see it if he'd had the chance. He just didn't torture himself about it or fritter away his days dreaming of journeys he'd never get to take._

_"But you're not even curious about stuff like this?" Jack patted his backpack, indicating the c.d.s inside. _

_Dayel shrugged. "What good's a trinket like that do me on this island? Besides, you don't even know what that thing is."_

_"Yes I---" Jack stopped himself. He was wasting his time trying to interest Dayel in anything that didn't involve drinking, women, brawling or killing scalies. "I hate them sometimes," Jack confessed._

_"Who? The scalie-lovers?"_

_Jack shook his head. "No, not them. The off-worlders." Dayel listened, so Jack continued. "Free to go anywhere they want. No scalies chompin' them. No thunderstorms. No Razor Reef. No G---"_

_Dayel's gaze diverted to something behind Jack in warning. Before Jack responded, he felt the backpack savagely ripped from his shoulders. "Hey! What the hell---!"_

_He turned and found himself staring into the face of one of the people he least wanted to catch him: Payden Borale. The dark-skinned man stared with a look that chilled Jack's blood. He picked through the bag for a moment and his frown became a scowl. "Where is the food we sent you to get?"_

_"The skybax rider---" Jack began._

_Payden had heard that excuse before---too many times. Without a word, he pulled the off-worlder artifacts---including the magazine Frank Scott had given Jack---from the bag and pitched every last one into the surf. _

_Ashen-faced, Jack watched his treasures wash into the sea. He didn't dare protest or lift a finger to retrieve them, fearing Payden's reprisal for disobedience._

_Payden could read the temptation in Jack's stance. "Leave them! I told you to stop being distracted and focus on what's important, but you never listen. You're lucky Gabriel didn't see that!" he scolded. Reluctantly, Jack tore his gaze from his destroyed collection to Borale. _

_Payden spoke more kindly-which only meant that he growled instead of shouted now. "Listen to me, boy, and do yourself a favor: Forget the off-worlders. Stop idealizing the off-worlders and a life you'll never have. Stop broodin' over trinkets and belly-aching over your lot in life. Your stuck. This island is your home. Sooner you learn to accept that, the sooner you'll see that we've not got it so bad here. We don't have the off-worlders' wars, their diseases, their obsession with useless rot like you've been wastin' time gathering. You want a life with no scalies hunting you?" Payden drew a bone dagger-sharp as the Razor Reef and still gross with flecks of dried reptile blood. At least, the teenager hoped it was only reptile blood. Jack shrank away from him fearfully, until the large man shoved the blade into the boy's hand. "_This_ is how you get a life with no scalies. You kill them. Just like we taught you."_

_Jack had the sudden urge to cry. Yes, Payden and Gabriel had taught him that for as far back as the teenager could remember. Gabriel taught him to do as he was told without question by simply beating the lessons into him. Payden taught him by chaining him to the traps in the hunting ground, live bait for the T-Rex, shoving a spear into Jack's hands, and admonishing: "The scalies are coming for you. Kill them or be killed, boy." When eight-year-old Jack had sulked or cried in fear, Payden and Gabriel hadn't cared. "The scalies don't feel pity. Neither do I. And neither will you if you want to survive," was Gabriel's excuse. Jack had done as they said from that day on, without question or protest._

_Jack was sick of killing the scalies. With new scalies hatching every season, five new T-Rex and pteranodons replaced every carnosaur that Jack's pack killed. And to think those ridiculous scalie-lovers actually threw festivals celebrating the season when the scalies hatched. Fools! Every scalie the pack killed came at the expense of their own. Jack had lost a friend with every fight with one of the scalies. "This is the most important lesson, boy---the pack comes first. The slow, the sick, the injured…they get left to take their chances w' the scalies if it comes down to that," Gabriel said the first time Jack lost one of his friends to a T-Rex. Sometimes, Jack had barely escaped with his own life. He was tired. He was fourteen years old now, but he felt forty sometimes. _

_"I'll see to the food. You're with the hunting parties tonight." Payden was instructing. _

_"Why me?" Jack demanded._

_Payden grinned. "You didn't bring back the food as you were told to do. You failed. Don't let it happen again." With that, he started walking away. _

_Dayel clapped Jack on the shoulder. "I'll go, too."_

_Jack called after Payden. "That scalie lover off-worlder messed me up---"_

_Payden called over his shoulder: "Don't let that happen again either."_

The blue light ceased its assault on Jack's mind and senses, taking the images with it until all that remained was the distant sound of a scream. It was slow to occur to him that the scream was his own. Someone was shaking him, and a voice shouted to be heard above the din of Jack's cry: "_Jack_!"

The boy opened his eyes, and the first thing Jack saw was the tunic of a skybax rider. The 'topian had him by the shoulders and was shaking him. Still half-caught in the dream images from the faith stone, Jack struggled and squirmed from the rider's grasp. He had been lying on a bunk in a tiny room; escaping the rider's hold, he tumbled to the floor. Jack scrambled on hands and knees across the floor, seeking escape.

"Jack!" the rider barked, catching the boy by his shirt. "It's all right! It's me, Karl!"

Jack blinked as the last remnants of the visions washed away and his memory returned. He wasn't with the pack---he was in the Sanctuary. "Karl?"

"Welcome back, kid," the blonde grinned, letting go of Jack.

The boy stayed where he was on the floor, still tensed to flee from the nightmarish images of predators, packs, daggers, and blood. He stared at the faith stone. Karl was carefully holding it by its chain, lest the images seize him again. "What was that?" Jack asked.

Karl frowned. "The real world."

_The 'real world'? As is 'You're an Outsider and when we fix the timeline with the freaky space rock, you get to go back to being an Outsider again'? No, that couldn't be…but the freaky space rock said it was, and Marion said that the freaky space rock could mess with reality, so if it said so, then Jack must be a…_

_…a thief? An Outsider? A dinosaur killer? So, if the rock said it, it _must _be so?_ Jack didn't care what the rock said.—he was a Scott, Frank's son, Karl's brother… "No way," the boy shook his head. "This is a trick."

Even as he said it, more memories were trying to bubble to the surface, back into his consciousness. It was all coming back to him now. He relieved every encounter with a carnosaur, every night sleeping in camps and makeshift shelters, every member of his pack, every bushel of food he'd stolen from Earth Farm, every time he ditched the pursuit from Scott and Denison. All these memories overlapped with those of his life as a Scott: plane rides, Dad and Karl's non-stop butting heads, ditching school to go listen to cds down by the river, summer camp trips that Karl always begged off because he had to work. The memories of these two lives merged, but it was the life of an Outsider on the island and the pack that was making its way to the forefront of Jack's mind. _I'm Jack Barrett._ He felt the truth of it while resisting it with everything in his heart, mind, and soul.

Karl wanted nothing more than to be able to say it was. "It's not a trick, Jack. I wish it were. I wish I---we---had time to convince you, hell, I wish I had time to convince myself, but we don't. If we don't change back, Dad's…"

Jack was scared, hurt, pissed off, and feeling betrayed all at the same time. He glared at Karl accusingly. "Wait---just like that? The space rock says I'm a bad guy, so you ditch me for that Outsider! I'm your brother!"

_Did he really think Karl had any intention of letting that happen_? Real world or not, Karl still had that fraternal instinct where this kid was concerned. Besides, he wasn't a creep who would just abandon the kid. Even _if_ he were, Karl was one hundred percent sure that Frank, Marion, and even David Barrett would never allow it. Jack had been with the Scotts a long time—a lifetime---didn't he know them by now? "I'm not ditching you, Jack! I'm not sending you back to that psycho Dane," Karl promised.

"That's what'll happen!"

"No, it won't! You can stay in Waterfall City. I'll help, so will Dad and Marion and Romana and David…"

"If you guys don't forget about me! I know how that stone works!"

"I won't forget," Karl said resolutely.

Jack rolled his eyes. "You don't know that! You forgot the 'real world'…you forgot your 'real' brother."

_Ouch__That was low. _Karl's ears went red. "They didn't forget the carnosaurs that were erased when the timeline was screwed up before---they brought them back."

"How would they know if they _did_ forget? That's what 'forgot' means! Hello!"

_Good point_, Karl agreed. "Jack, please, this is Dad's life at stake."

_I can't go back, I can't go back. I don't care what it cost._ "So what? You're saying he's not my Dad anyway and you're not really my brother, what do I care?"

"You don't mean that!" Karl gaped.

Jack hesitated. _Did he mean it? No, he didn't. Not really._ Frank had been decent to him in both realities…was the only person in the 'real' timeline who the boy trusted. But this…this was too much. "No. I don't." Jack closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against his hands, collecting his thoughts. One thought dominated: _I won't go back._ He opened one eye, staring at the faith stone. "Can I see it again?" Jack held out his hand for the stone. "Please?"

If it would help, if Jack had to see more to believe, Karl would have to let him, time to spare or not. He passed the meteorite to the boy. Jack paused only briefly before grasping the stone firmly in his palm. Blue light flared at once, enveloping the boy. He passed out almost at once, and Karl hurried to catch Jack before he hit his head on the ground. The kid was deadweight; Karl lugged him back to the bunk and deposited him gently there. He carefully took hold of the faith stone's chain and removed it from Jack's grip, setting it aside on the table. The light winked out, leaving the room dark and silent.

Karl tried waking Jack, but the boy wouldn't be roused. Marion had said that each time the stone was used, it would take a bit longer to wake up, so Karl shouldn't worry. Still, Karl would feel better if Marion had a look at Jack, just to make sure the kid wasn't having any ill-effect from all this contact with the space rock. She could use her empathy to bring him around. Maybe she'd know something to say to calm him down, because Karl sure was botching the job.

Leaving the boy sleeping, Karl went in search of the matriarch's daughter.

_Jack Barrett emerged from the Temple of the Falls, the box with Marion's sunstone medallion in one hand, the Tohma Faiere hanging by a chain around his neck. The special smoke bomb he'd made of the forest's narcotic plants would have Noree and the other guards out cold for another five minutes. Jack planned to be out of Waterfall City before they woke. Stealing the meteorites had been so easy that he was nearly embarrassed for its saurian Keeper, who had practically handed the faith stone to the outsider in her eagerness to share its 'gift' and convert the nonbeliever. _

_Taking the 'faith stone' had been a crime of opportunity. He thought he might be able to trade it for food or shelter for the pack later. Jack knew the stories about the Tohma Faiere and its supposed powers even before eager-beaver Noree started telling him about it in the Temple; personally, he didn't buy a word of it. But, what he believed wasn't important---all that mattered was that the little blue rock was going to buy his way back into Payden Borale and Gabriel Dane's good graces. _

_He'd reached the top of the long staircase that paralleled the waterfall and just thought himself in the clear when he'd seen two of the three people he'd most wanted to avoid while in the city: Karl and David Scott. They were the off-worlder friends of the matriarch's daughter, Marion. Worse, David Scott was one of those do-gooder skybax riders. Jack didn't want to be caught with the two 'topian trinkets in his possession, especially not by _those_ guys. Luckily, they were preoccupied with their own quarreling and hadn't noticed Jack as he emerged from the stairway. Karl was chasing a baby casmasaur through the marketplace, yelling back at the dark-haired skybax rider following him. Everyone's attention was on them, so no one spared Jack a glance. Lucky break._

_Jack watched them go, shaking his head. If he'd been lucky enough to be raised a 'topian and been the best friend of that pretty Marion instead of growing up in Gabriel's pack, he might not be reduced to stealing space rocks and old 'topian artifacts to survive. He might be a skybax rider even. For just a fleeting second, Jack had entertained the possibilities of what his life would have been like if could trade places with one of the Scotts... _

_Dayel's voice, chastising Jack for such notions, echoed in the boy's mind for a minute. Dayel would have never gone along with such a hair-brained plan as stealing Marion Waldo's medallion…_

_…but Dayel wasn't there any more, Jack remembered bitterly. Not since the hunting party Payden had sent him and Jack to join had run afoul of the pteranodons only a few days ago. The pain of losing his friend was still too new and raw. Jack pushed it out of his mind and focused on getting out of Waterfall City with his treasure._

_The blue-hued visions shifted again, like a movie camera changing angles. Jack saw Alano—the traitor from Le Sage's pack, the outcast Outsider---in his brown skybax rider uniform flying into Waterfall City on Pterra's back. Alano landed his own pterosaur beside Freefall. Freefall whuffed a greeting that sounded distinctly annoyed. "Mornin' beastie---where's the slugabed?" Alano scanned the vicinity of Flippeau's home, where the Scotts usually bunked when they were in Waterfall City. He didn't have to look far to see that the Scott brothers were nearby…and in the middle of another spectacular row. David didn't even see the pterosaurs and Alano waiting for him, caught up in his fight with Karl as he was. _

_"Ah, bugger. Looks like we're going to be late for duty again. Oonu will have us flying the skut patrols. Romana will kill David. Evan will kill me. What do you suppose it's about this time, eh?" _

_Then came the angry shout: "Thief!"_

_Jack heard the shout from the stairway---the cry of the saurian Keeper he'd thought he'd knocked out---and cringed. The shout drew the attention of everyone in the vicinity of the stairs…including the Scotts. David spotted Jack first, saw the sacred box clutched in Jack's hand, and his face darkened when he recognized the outsider as a frequent customer at Frank's tavern. Frank liked the young outsider, despite David's reservations about him because…well, because of worrying about things like him ripping off a 'topian temple, Jack supposed. _

_The Scotts advanced, blocking the street in front of Jack; Noree was climbing the stairs, blocking an escape to the rear. Alano, burly and nasty-looking, wasn't far behind the Scotts. Saurian guards could be heard drawing closer, booming orders for the crowd to clear a path for them. There was only one escape route available if Jack didn't want to jump off the bridge and go over the falls (and he didn't). He climbed over the merchants' tables, spilling their contents as he ran from tabletop to tabletop. His pursuers were only briefly hindered by the crowd._

_Jack didn't get far. Reaching the end of the row of tables, he leaped to the ground. He rounded a corner and was nearly plowed over by a cart laden with bushels of produce. Jack skidded to a stop only just in time, but the delay was all the Scotts needed. Something, someone, slammed into Jack hard and knocked him into a booth loaded with baskets and woven throw rugs. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the bronze-orange tunic of a scalie-rider on his way down. The collision knocked the wind out of him. Jack kicked and punched with one hand, still holding the box with his other, trying to escape the skybax rider._

"_Jack, you little…" David tried wrestling the box with the sunstone medallion---Marion's medallion--- out of the outsider's grip. "I should have…."_

"_Sorry, but a man's got to look out for himself." Jack drew a bone dagger from his coat and was about to stab at the scalie rider with it when Karl arrived. The younger Scott brother spotted the danger and pounced, tearing the blade from Jack's hand. Two against one were too crappy of odds for the outsider. He dropped the box. It opened upon impact with the stone street, and the sunstone medallion tumbled out. _

_Karl grabbed it. He held the pendant up so that David could see it as well. "Now, this doesn't belong to you, Jack."_

"_I was jus' borrowing it," Jack insisted._

_David caught the outsider by the collar. "Then you can just take it ba---what is that?" His fingers had found the chain around Jack's neck. A piece of meteorite with a broken gold setting dangled from the cord. David could read saurian well enough to know the inscriptions in the saurian footprint language were ancient, some sort of prayer or something. "Where did you get this?"_

_Karl pocketed the sunstone and moved for a closer look at the blue stone around Jack's neck. "I'll bet this doesn't belong to you, either."_

"_It's mine! I found it fair and square!" Jack whined._

_Karl could read the saurian language only marginally better than he spoke it…which was to say, not well at all. "What does this say?" Karl pointed at the inscriptions, directing the question at his brother. _

_Even David, almost fluent in the language, had to work to puzzle out the complicated inscription: "It's a prayer of some kind. Tohma Faiere…that means 'faith stone'…anghara pharneilos…"_

_Jack tried to tug the pendant out of their hands. "I said, it's mine!"_

"…_tharmha tohma faiere…"_

_Three pairs of hands grasped the meteorite at the same time as the stone began to glow a brilliant blue…_

_I'm Jack Barrett._

I won't go back… 

This time, Jack ignored the sensation of being shaken, ignored Karl's voice. The boy lay, unmoving, on the bunk even as the images faded and lucidity returned to him. He pretended to still be out cold. Karl must have fallen for it, because Jack heard his footsteps move away from the bunk. Seconds later, the footsteps left the small room and Karl's voice, calling for Marion, moved down the hallway.

Jack opened his eyes now.

_So, the Scotts were going to ditch him, just like that? They were no better than the pack…well, two---no, three—could play at that game. I'm not going back to Dane and Payden._

Jack acted the second Karl was gone. The boy sprang from the bed and ran to the door, slamming it shut. Then, he dragged the heavy bunk, using strength born of adrenaline and fear, until it blocked the doorway. Not even a saurian guard could force that door open now. And if they couldn't get inside, they couldn't make Jack go back.

Still, Jack would need to take precautions, on the off chance the 'topians did manage to get into the room. He glanced at the inert stone lying on the table. That stone was the real threat---just like the T-Rex and pteranodons. Well, thanks to that damn rock, Jack remembered how to deal with a threat: Destroy it first.

Jack looked around the room. There wasn't much to use in the chamber, but there was a small statue of a dino-human sentinel set into a nook in the wall. _That'll work._ Resolved, the boy picked up the statue and carried it over to the table where the faith stone lay. _That'll work just fine…_


	23. Chapter 23

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

As soon as he heard the door to Jack's room slam shut, Karl realized he'd just made a huge mistake. _Oh no…_ He ran back, tried to open the door, and found it wouldn't budge. "_Jack_!" Karl banged on the door. "Jack! Open the door!"

"Go to hell, Karl!" the boy shot back from the other side of the door.

The sound of shouting brought the saurian guards first, then Marion, David, Romana, and Noree followed. They found Karl still pounding on the unmoving door, "Jack! You little---open this door!" It wasn't hard to guess what had happened.

Barrett arched an eyebrow. "Little brother seems a smidge reluctant."

Karl wasn't in the mood for jokes. "You think?"

Marion studied the skybax rider, looking for something: "Karl, where's the Tohma Faiere?"

It dawned on Karl that he'd left the space rock on the table in Jack's room. "Oh sh---_Jack!_" He slammed his hands against the wooden door more frantically.

Romana added her gentle calls to Karl's, trying to help. "Jack, it's going to be all right."

"We can't undo the Tohma Faiere's spell without the Tohma Faiere," Noree chided.

Karl slumped against the door. Jack wasn't going to open it. Karl didn't blame him, really. _I botched this up real good, didn't _I? He glowered at the saurian. "I know that! What do you want me to do?"

"The guards can force the door…"

"No way," Karl and David answered as one.

Marion didn't like the idea either, but the longer the waited, the more danger Frank—and David—were in. "We have no choice," she said.

"That's a real nice attitude for a 'topian," David said. "I'm not breaking down a door on a scared fourteen-year-old and forcing him back into the packs---even I'm not that far over on the dark side. There's always a choice." Payden wasn't going to wait for the kid to calm down, and Barrett hadn't put too much hope in the 'use the magic space rock to fix the timeline' rescue plan anyway. Knowing what had to be done, David headed for the stairway. Karl, Marion, and Romana were right behind him.

"Where are you going?" Marion asked, a note of panic in her tone suggesting she knew already.

"To get Frank---Dad---Frank---oh, I give up…"

"Payden will kill you. You said it yourself. Karl?" the matriarch turned to the skybax rider to talk sense into the Outsider.

David directed his explanation at Scott. "Frank's my responsibility---Payden took him to get me. I'll get him back." Karl was staring at him in shock. Barrett found that a little insulting. "What? Did you think I wouldn't? You have to trust me, Scott."

Scott blinked. For a second, he had a déjà vu of being back in his room on a snowy night with bickering relatives downstairs…

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"Where should I be? What? You thought I wouldn't show up? Don't you trust me?"_

Karl slowly broke into a grin, baffling all present. "What did you have in mind, Mr. Bond?" he asked his brother.

His real brother.

The remark was lost on the others, but comprehension and a hint of smile soon lit Barrett's eyes.

The last thing he remembered was Le Sage. She'd been standing on the pier, paying no heed as some of the taller waves lapped over the boards and soaked her boots. She was bending to examine the submarine, looking distinctly unhappy about something. "Sonnuva---Dane! You'd better take a look at what your clumsy pack of ten-thumbed baboons have done!"

Dane had crossed the beach and joined her on the pier. As he did, she had straightened up. He paid no mind when she scratched her nose and then her elbow. His only concern was that she was pointing to something on the boat with a glare that said she was fit to kill someone. His group of outsiders also headed towards the water, some to enjoy the commotion, some curious, and others to defend their work on the submarine against whatever accusations the dark-haired woman was about to dish out. None of them noticed that Le Sage's own pack was quietly positioning themselves around Dane's men and women.

"Look at this! It's going to take a day to fix this mess," Le Sage told Dane.

He didn't see anything wrong, but he knelt to check again just to get her to shut up. "I see nothing th---"

That was when he felt a blow to the back of his head. The next thing he knew, he was falling face-first into the water and the world went dark.

He awoke to the sensation of being up to his chin in tepid water with his arms bound fast around something large and round. A wave splashed him in the face, sending water burning down his nose and throat. Dane coughed, spitting saltwater, and opened his eyes. He was chained beneath the pier. The high tide was already up to his neck. Before he could process that dire turn of events, he turned his head just a bit and saw Le Sage. She was lounging on the very top of the submarine, watching him with glee. She was holding a fussing messenger parrot by its feet.

"What have you done, you b---" he spat. Where was his pack? He craned his neck as best he could, trying to discern why they weren't helping him. From his vantage point, it was impossible to see that Le Sage's pack surrounded his own, their weapons just visible enough to deter anyone from coming to Dane's assistance.

"Speak," Le Sage told the bird.

The bird chirped: "Ahem. Message from Payden Boreal: _Have taken captive and sent message. Barrett won't be making the trip with you, as requested. Wish you a safe journey. May we succeed in our mutual endeavors this night._ End of Message."

Satisfied, she released the fidgety creature. The messenger fluttered away, this time to a much higher branch in the nearby trees. "I know he didn't mean _David_ Barrett, of course. That would mean you'd broken our agreement. And you know how I feel about being double-crossed, Gabriel. Naughty, naughty," Le Sage tsked at Dane.

Another wave splashed his face. Dane fumbled for something to say that would get him out of his unacceptable position. He'd kill her afterwards, of course. "You, of course, and the boy are not ones to talk of double-crossing. I, too, have a reputation to consider."

"You forgave us for that, remember? As part of the aforementioned agreement?"

"Doris, you know I never forgive, I only delay my revenge when it suits me. To forgive such disrespect would make me a weak leader, yes? But, with you I have no quarrel if you release me now."

She rubbed her chin. "Hmm, now how do I know you're forgiving me and not delaying your revenge? Clearly, you're pretty flexible with the whole forgive/don't forgive thing…tell you what, I'll ask David what he thinks when he gets back."

"Such loyalty be your weakness, pretty one. Barrett is dead by now."

Le Sage frowned. "Ooh. That's bad luck."

"We move past this. Unlock the chains and I'll…"

She jumped from the submarine to the dock and leaned over the side of the pier to grin at Dane. "No, I meant bad luck for you. You see, it's something of an embarrassing story, so don't ask, but…" She pointed to the lock. "…I'm afraid David has the key."

The sound of her laughter accompanied the fall of her steps on the wooden planks as she walked back to shore. His shout was muffled by another wave slapping his face.


	24. Chapter 24

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

**12**

Safety was close as the reach of Jack's arm, if could only force himself to move. Karl and Marion and that scalie Keeper couldn't make him go back to the pack if there was no faith stone. Jack had only to swing his arm, smash the crystal to pieces with the heavy statue in his hand, and any possibility of switching places with David would be gone. Still, Jack couldn't do it.

On the other side of the door, Marion and Noree were taking turns knocking, saying words and making promises to which Jack paid no attention. "Jack, we know you're frightened. I know what the Tohma Faiere showed you, but it will be all right. I promise," the matriarch was pleading with him.

_She could talk…she didn't see what Jack had seen. She didn't know what she was talking about, what she was asking of him._

"We'll help you, Jack," Noree added.

"You'll help me? You won't even remember me! And don't tell me you know how I feel. You can't possibly know. I'm not Jack Barrett. I don't care what the freaky rock says!" he shot back.

Marion leaned her forehead against the door, trying to think of what to say to the frightened teenager. "Jack, I think I do understand. You were the Outsider, one of Dane's pack, and David was a skybax rider. Somehow, the two of you came across the Tohma Faiere, read the inscription, and inadvertently switched lives…"

Romana Denison had been waiting, staying out of the way of the matriarch's daughter and the Keeper for the moment. She was no more anxious than the rest of them to force open the door and drag Karl's brother---or whoever the kid really was---out by force. Jack had already been traumatized by Frank's abduction, and the skybax rider had no desire to make a bad situation worse, but this bit of news from Marion took her completely by surprise. Since Romana had brought Jack to the Sanctuary, there hadn't been time for Marion to completely fill Romana in on what had happened. Romana had heard the abbreviated version of the story in the few minutes Karl had been talking privately to Jack. Marion had left out the part about David being a skybax rider completely. "_What_?"

"I understand why you're afraid to go back to Dane's pack. I've seen what he's capable of…" Marion continued.

"No, you haven't," Jack informed her.

"David was one of ours?" Romana interrupted, stepping over to the door. That made some sense now that she thought about it. He could ride a wild skybax without training, which meant he had to be innately of the Sky. He'd been one of the Corps, one of their own. She had to have known him in the other lifetime; she knew every rider who'd ever ridden a skybax—past and present. It explained the strange feeling she had when---

Marion shook her head for 'not now'. "I'll explain after…"

"No, no," Romana wanted clarification. "Wait a minute. The Tohma Faiere took one of a rider away and made him change places with an Outsider? David was one of ours?" The more she considered it, the more the idea upset her.

The matriarch tried to keep exasperation out of her tone, but she really didn't need to have to deal with Romana and Jack's tempers at the same time. "Karl figured it out. But---"

"Move." Romana shoved past the matriarch's daughter and the Keeper and banged heavily on the door. "Jack! Are you listening?"

Silence from the other side of the door answered the question for her.

"The Scotts are my friends—and whatever the Tohma Faiere did, they're still your family in this timeline! Do you understand that? If you're Jack Scott, that should matter to you. If you were in Dane's pack, then you know that Payden is a very dangerous man, like David said. Right now, Karl and David are trying to save their father---your father---from him, and the only reason they have to be in danger right now is because you've locked yourself in that room with the faith stone to save yourself." Romana ignored Marion disapproving look. They didn't have time to treat Jack with kid's gloves anymore. Time wasn't on their side. "If you hadn't, we could have switched things back without anyone risking their lives! Are you okay with that?"

"They were going to ditch me anyway."

Marion heard uncertainty in the boy's tone. Maybe Romana had started to get through to him. "That's now how it is, Jack. You're right, there are no guarantees we'll remember this timeline, but I know if there's any way that we can remember, none of us will 'ditch' you. You aren't expendable to us, Jack, leave of all to your—to the Scotts. We do care what happens to you, and I'm sure Karl already told you that. Why do you think Karl and David were hesitant to go through with switching back? Why do you think they wanted you to know the truth? We could have performed the ritual and never told you about the possible consequences, but they wouldn't have let us. We care what happens to you. I don't know what else to say to make you believe that."

Silence again.

Romana tried again, discipline making her be patient with the boy despite her impulse to knock down the door. "There are other repercussions, Jack. All you're thinking about is yourself. You don't want to go back now that you've got a life you like better—nevermind if David gets stuck with your old life. If you're okay with that, then think about this: What if there are more people than just you and the Scotts who were affected by this switch? David was meant to be a skybax rider…do you have any idea how many people live or die by the actions or lack of actions of one skybax rider? It was one skybax rider who got the sunstone replaced in the middle of that carnosaur rampage. One. You ought to know…it was Karl."

Jack did remember that…they had found sunstones in the cave with their father. Karl had jumped on Pterra and flown one sunstone back to Waterfall City, put it in the tower, and the carnosaur rampage had ended just this side of too late…

A blue vision swam through Jack's mind. _He saw himself and Dane pack watching the rampage from their hiding place in the hills side. They had been too caught up in trying to survive to know the details of what happened in Waterfall City. All Jack knew was that, miraculously, the sunstone had come back to life and frightened away the pteranodons and T-Rexes. It wasn't until a later visit to the Scott tavern that Frank had off-handedly mentioned that his son had been the one to fly the sunstone back to Waterfall City. His son, David._

Romana persisted, "No one else could have reached that tower. If that hadn't happened, who knows if anyone on Dinotopia would have survived? What about Jack Barrett? You were with the packs how long in the real timeline? All your life? David was there a few months in this timeline. Jack Barrett's absence from the pack could mean your friends in the pack were affected. What if they died because you weren't around to save them? What if _you_ forgot _them_?"

She was wrong. Jack Barrett had never saved anyone in his lifetime. Dane and Payden had taught the pack to never put themselves in harm's way for _anyone_. You never risked your life. '_Scalies don't have friends…neither do you. Live by their rules and you'll survive_.' Jack remembered Dane saying that. Jack's few friends, Dayel included, had died with him unable---even unwilling---to lift a finger. Fear of Dane and Payden's reprisal was stronger than the desire to risk his life going to anyone's rescue. Frank Scott was the only person on the island who acted like he cared if Jack lived or died…the closest thing Jack Barrett had to a friend…

…and here Jack was again. His 'friend' who had looked out for him and never ditched him in either timeline---now his family—was in mortal danger and Jack Scott had done exactly what Jack Barrett had been trained to do: Taken himself out of harm's way. Saved himself and left his family to the predators. Payden would kill the Scotts and Jack would be safe. The difference now was that Jack Barrett had never been ashamed of self-preservation the way Jack Scott was at that moment.

"Everyone has a place that they're meant to be in this world, Jack. Everyone has a destiny…even if we don't like it. I believe that. If you want to prove that you aren't Jack Barrett, then stop acting like him. Take responsibility for what's happened and help us fix this before it's too late," Romana finished.

Frank's voice echoed in Jack's mind: _Don't give me excuses. You take responsibility for your own actions._

The sound of a _crash_, like pottery or rock dashed against the wall, from inside Jack's room filled Marion, Romana, and Noree with sudden dread. It was Marion who found her voice first. She pounded on the door, "Jack? What was that sound? Did you…?"

As she banged with her fist, the door suddenly swung open. She had to pull her arm back to avoid hitting Jack in the face. He stood in the doorway, the Tohma Faiere clutched in his outstretched hand…undamaged. Piece of the stone Sentinel statue were scattered across the floor of the room. They'd been sent flying when the small statue had impacted against the wall when Jack vented his fear and frustration by throwing it.

"I broke your statue," the boy apologized before offering the faith stone to Marion. Fear shown in his pallor and wide eyes. Romana took the meteorite before the boy had a change of heart. She nodded her approval, put a hand on his shoulder to offer her support.

For her part, Marion drew the teenager into an embrace, offering what reassurance she could through the contact and through her own empathic ability. "Jack, thank you.

"Nice place. Where's Payden hiding Dad? Camp Crystal Lake?" The forest around them gave Karl the creeps. He knew they were deep in carnosaur territory, but he'd lost his bearings. He was used to traveling by skybaxes and almost never ventured into predator country. They'd had to come by boat. It wasn't safe for Pterra here, even in the daylight, and Barrett was sure that Payden would kill Dad at the first sign of a skybax approaching. Karl had to lie in the bottom of the boat underneath a blanket just in case Payden was watching from the shadows…and there were countless shadows in the forest after dark.

"Next best thing to it," David confirmed. "This is Dane and Payden's playground." The last time he'd been to the hunting grounds was the day of the first sunstone failure, the day he had rescued both Marion and Freefall from Dane's pack. That day promised to be a cakewalk compared to this night.

David climbed out of the boat and surveyed the surrounding forest with a foreboding that told him he was likely about to walk his last mile. He knew Payden wouldn't go to the dramatic lengths of dragging David all the way out here to kill him. Borale's preference would have been to creep up on Barrett while he slept and slit his throat. That meant David had Dane to thank for this trip down memory lane. Gabriel's sense of 'justice' would demand that David die at the sight of his betrayal of the pack leader---right here at the hunting grounds.

David warned Karl, "Watch out for snares, tripwires, pits, T-Rex…just be careful. Don't screw around or do anything stupid out here…."

Karl made a face. "What did I tell you about the 'big brother' lectures? I'm still a skybax rider for now. I do know a little about carnosaur territory."

"Like the fact that you should avoid it?"

"Just tell me the plan before some guy in a goalie mask pops out of the bushes, Barrett."

David momentarily wondered how his life had grown so progressively bizarre that he'd gone from dodging skybax riders to having one as his back up against Payden in less than twelve hours. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake believing the 'topians or trusting Karl Scott. "Payden's plan is to bring me here, make me trade myself for Fr---_Dad_, kill me, and call it a day."

"But he'll definitely let Dad go?"

David shrugged. "I said Payden wouldn't kill him. I have no idea if he'll let him go."

"Wait a second---"

"Will you listen!" David snapped. "Payden knows you know Fr—Dad was kidnapped, but he doesn't know that you know where to find him. He knows I wouldn't help skybax riders, so he won't be expecting you here. Stay out of his sight whatever you do. I'll try to get him to let Fr—Dad—go. If I can't, I'll try to get him someplace safe at least, into one of the pits if I can."

"What good will that do?"

"The pits have iron gates over them. They can usually withstand the predators for a little while, long enough for you to come in and get Fr—Dad---out. The gates open downward when there's enough weight to trigger them. They close automatically and lock when the scalie falls inside, so be careful you don't get locked in."

"Okay, so if Dad's in the pit, where will you be?"

"Don't worry about me. Get Fr—Dad—out of carnie territory as fast as you can."

He was still expecting to die, and Karl knew it. Karl had no intention of letting it get that far. He wasn't about to get into a boat and leave David behind, and he was pretty sure that Dad wouldn't either. "No can do."

"I know this territory, Scott. I can take care of myself."

"Not if Payden kills you, you can't. I'm supposed to take off with Dad and say 'Sorry about your luck'? What the hell is that? I'll put Dad in the boat, and then you and I can double-team Payden. Agreed?" Karl insisted. "Where are you going to be?"

It wasn't going to do David much good to argue. In either timeline, Karl was a mule when he wanted to be. He pointed to a trail only just visible in the moonlight. "There's a pit trap down that path near the foot of the hill. I'm pretty sure that's where Payden will want to kill me."

Karl raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Dane lost most of his hand at that pit because of me and he has a warped sense of poetic justice, that's why," David explained.

"How do I get there without Payden seeing me?"

"A hundred yards up the path, there's a sidetrail on the left. It circles around the pit and then back to the main trail. That's how Gabriel and Payden avoid their own traps." David drew a sketch of the paths in the sand. "Follow the sidetrail, then doubleback along the main path, and you should come up on Payden from behind. And if you could manage to not make any noise, that would really be helpful."

"How am I supposed to walk on branches and leafs without making noise?"

Barrett grinned, "That's your problem."

"That's helpful, thanks." Karl was still shaking his head as Barrett started for the main path. "Hey, Barrett?"

David paused.

"Good luck, bro." Then Karl raced down the sidetrail and was gone.

Barrett stood there. Those three words echoed in his mind. Blue visions answered the simple statement…

"I want him back here now!" Frank's roar was audible as David made his way down the hall to the chamber where the Mayor would be waiting. He didn't have to ask who his father was hacked off at. His father had sent a message demanding that David return to Waterfall City the night before. Frank and Karl were bailing, had some half-assed idea about crossing the Razor Reef by boat, and David was expected to go with them.

_David had agonized over it for the entire night, not sleeping at all, torn between loyalty to his family and his place on Dinotopia. The sunstones were failing again and no one knew why. Pteranodons and T-Rex were going to be in Waterfall City before the end of the day. Mayor Waldo needed every rider that he could get to hold off the carnosaurs while the city was evacuated. It came down to the fact that David had committed himself to the Corps, to being one of those riders. Maybe Dad and Karl couldn't understand that kind of responsibility or why the Corps was important to him, but, by the time dawn arrived, David had made up his mind to stay and fight with the other Dinotopians._

_He was right in predicting that Frank would go ballistic. _

_He was wrong about Karl._

_In the middle of Frank's rants and threats to get David to bail with them, Karl had walked across the room and shocked David by hugging him in a gesture of unconditional trust…and for good-bye. "Good luck, bro."_

David was having a déjà vu and it had nothing to do with knowing he'd walked this same path—or rather _ran_---months earlier when Dane had been on his heels. It was more blue images, resurfacing with growing intensity as he pushed through the trees and brush. Bit by bit the memory had slowly been returning since Karl's parting words on the riverbank moments earlier…

_David was running through the forest, spurred on by the sounds of a scream. He recognized that shout, knew the voice, and that made him run with all the speed he could despite the pain of pteranodon scratches across his chest and a limp from a pretty banged up leg. He had an even fainter memory of the sunstone failure, the pteranodons swarming into the cities, a dogfight between Freefall and several pteranodons, and the subsequent plunge from the sky that had resulted in the injuries. David didn't care. His worry was finding the direction from which that familiar scream had originated…_

_He'd been searching since the farmer had walked into the makeshift hospital tent Rosemary had set up. She'd informed David that the farmer had a message for him. Disoriented and flat on his back recovering from the dogfight and the crash, David hadn't known what to make of that news. An official message from Oonu or the corps should have been delivered by another rider or a messenger bird and no one else would be sending him a message. Marion was safely off with the other refugees, hiding from the swarms and packs of carnosaurs invading the cities. Romana was here in the camp with David, waiting just outside the tent, and Dad and Karl would be halfway to the Razor Reef by now…_

_"From who?" David had asked._

_"Your father," the farmer had smiled._

_David wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen Dad's distinctive, messy scrawl on a small scrap of paper the farmer carried. The farmer had insisted Frank write it down---carrying a message from the father of the heroic Scott brothers was too important for the old man to chance forgetting a single word:_

_"David—_

Karl's mad as hell we're leaving without you. He'd been on my ass about it since we hiked out of Waterfall City this morning. You boys are both mules when you want to be. I guess you get that from me—I don't think there's another word for a man who'd stick to a trip like this with everyone telling him he's a fool…including his own son. Maybe I am a fool. I don't know. Truth is, you were always the one in the family with the common sense, and the sense of right and wrong. You were always a good kid, David, but I didn't realize until you made your choice this morning that you've become a good man sometime when I wasn't looking. I hope I had something to do with that. I did the best I could when you boys were growing up, but I know I wasn't around as much as you would have liked and I know I made a million mistakes along the way. I didn't always take the things that were important to you as seriously as I should have…not even this Skybax Corps thing. I always know what to say to Karl, but with you I put my foot in my mouth so much that I must have a size eleven shoe print on my tongue by now. Maybe that's the reason you and I weren't as close as I wish we'd been. I wish there was time left to talk to you about all this in person, for us to become friend. I just want you to know, whatever happens, that I'm sorry I spent our last conversation yelling at you when what I should have said was this: I love you, son, and I'm proud of you."

David Scott had been stunned by the message at the time. He hadn't been prepared to hear those words or for the feelings the simple note had dredged up. Even David Barrett now froze, halfway up the forest trail, his breath suddenly caught tightly in his throat and those emotions assaulted him anew. His vision blurred, and he brushed impatiently at his eyes. He didn't have time for this…

The memory wouldn't let go. Barrett walked faster, pushing through the brush roughly (there was no point in trying to sneak when Payden knew full well he was coming) as if he could outrun the vision.

_David Scott had acted. As soon as he read the words, he knew he had made a mistake letting Dad and Karl go. He belonged with his family. He had to find them. However important it was to be part of the Corps and Dinotopia, his family was more important. _

_His family._

_David had searched the coast for any sign of Dad or Karl. At first, he'd found Marion, only just in time to save her from an oversized crocodile-like dinosaur. He'd escaped with her to higher ground and the meager cover of the forest. It was there, hiding among the trees, that Marion had dashed any hopes of finding his brother or father with her story of how the boat carrying her and the Scotts capsized in the thunderstorm. David had been angry at their stubborn insistence on trying to cross the reef, angry that they had almost gotten Marion killed by dragging her along against her will, and almost ill with disappointment and grief that he'd missed his last chance to say what he needed to say to Dad and Karl. David's despair was made worse know that he and Marion were probably going to be dead, too, before the day was over. With pteranodons and T-Rex on rampages and the sunstones out of commission, the forest wouldn't hide them from predators for long. _

_Then he'd heard the scream._

David Barrett's sense of déjà vu grew even stronger as he made his way along the path. Even his limp was similar to David Scott's. Unconsciously, Barrett's pace increased as he moved until he was almost running the way David Scott had run in the vision.

_David had run as fast as his battered leg would allow, pushing through branches and brush in the direction of the scream. The scream was Frank Scott's, and David found his father pinned by a hunting trap that had closed its steel jaws around his leg. Karl was trying to free him from its grip. They looked like they'd been through a wringer, and he must have looked just as bad, for Karl had stopped his efforts to free their Dad long enough to worry over his brother's injuries. Dad forgot about his own damaged leg long enough to hug David. But they were both alive and that was all that mattered to David…_

David stepped off the trail into a clearing and found an eerily similar scene: Dad was snared in another hunter's trap. He hung, unconscious, from a rope that was slung over a thick branch. Standing by the off-worlder, staying carefully out of Frank's reach, was Payden Borale.


	25. Chapter 25

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

It was the distant roar of a T-Rex that brought Frank back to consciousness. The last thing Frank remembered was the burly dark-skinned man who clobbered him with some sort of powder and the sound of Jack calling to him…and then nothing until he'd awakened to cold, dampness, darkness, and the sounds of the forest. He became aware of his arms next---of burning from his shoulders all the way to his numb wrists, owing to the fact that he was hanging by his bound wrists at the end of a rope several feet above the ground. There was an iron grate, which covered a dark pit, in the clearing directly below him. It could only be a hunter's trap.

Also below him was Payden Borale. The Outsider crouched among the underbrush near the edge of the clearing, unmoving. Not even the cries of the nearby predators elicited a movement or a response from the man.

Frank didn't know where they were, other than that they were in the middle of the woods somewhere near (or inside) carnosaur territory. There wasn't even the glow of a sunstone here, only the moon lit the landscape. There must have been a river not far away…only far enough away that the pounding of the water wouldn't mask the sounds of approaching predators. A trail disappeared into the forest, leading in the direction of the sounds of the river. Payden stared in the direction of the river noises as if expecting someone or something to come up the trail.

"So, I guess I know who to thank for that trap that almost took off my leg," Frank growled at the Outsider. Payden didn't even twitch in response. "If you've hurt one of my kids…"

"Your children aren't my concern, Scott. It's not my way to hunt children…most of the time." Payden spoke softly, accustomed to moving through carnivore territory without detection. He would have silenced Frank with a blow to the chest, but if David Barrett was in the vicinity, the boy could follow the babblings of the off-worlder to Payden's trap.

"But you're fine with kidnapping?" Frank asked sardonically.

"A trap needs the proper bait to lure its prey. You've nothing to fear…unless you keep speaking so loudly that a predator decides to hunt you," the Outsider warned, still not moving.

What 'prey' could Payden possibly expect to catch using Frank as bait? The Outsider wouldn't have come halfway across the island to specifically abduct Scott just to lure a dinosaur---that would have been way too much work. If he wanted live bait for a carnosaur, he could have grabbed anyone on the island. If Payden wanted Frank, he had to be after something that would come after Frank…or someone.

"What prey---?" And then Scott remembered: He had told Karl about Dane's meeting with David Barrett that morning. That meeting was surely over with now, but Frank hasn't heard back from Karl. That wasn't unusual, given his relationship with his older son of late, however Karl's errand and Payden's sudden interest in Frank couldn't be coincidental. Maybe Karl ruined their plans and they were after some payback by way of his father. "Is it Karl? I told you if you hurt one of my kids, I'll…"

"And I told you, your children are not my concern."

"Then who?" Frank demanded.

The Outsider still wasn't a bit perturbed by his complaining prisoner's threats or insistence of bellowing in carnivore territory. "That is not your concern either."

"It sure the hell is if you're using me as bait!" Frank disagreed. "I have a big problem with that. Aren't you supposed to be on a submarine heading for the Razor Reef with your buddy Dane?"

There it was---Payden twitched, almost imperceptibly, in surprise. "What?" Frank grinned. "You think I can't figure out why Dane's in Gull's Bay? You want off this island as bad as I do. Personally I don't care if you both end up at the bottom of the sea---" _As long as you don't take David down with you_, he added to himself.

Payden now turned his head towards Frank, just a bit, keeping the trail visible from the corner of his eye. "The arrogance of the off-worlders is amazing. Not everyone on this island longs for life in your off-world land. Your 'home' is of no interest to me. I have a home already right here. I don't share your desperation to abandon this island."

"I'm only thinking of my children."

"As am I," the Outsider said. "My children are safe from the evils of _your_ world here…the monsters _here_ can be exterminated."

"Better living through saurian genocide? That's inhumane," Frank spat.

"Humans are predators, too. The most clever of predators. Both of your children are alive, Scott. When you've watched a scalie devour one of your children, you can speak to me of what is 'humane' and what is not." For the first time, Frank saw some emotion in the stoic Outsider. It lasted only a second, but grief darkened Borale's eyes.

There was nothing Frank could say to that. On his worst days on this island, he'd have been glad to see the dinosaurs gone. He had wished away the carnivores every time Karl had risked his life flying a mission against them. He'd seen families devastated by the loss of loved ones to the monsters of this island, and he'd sympathized with their anguish. It was a fact of life on Dinotopia that dinosaurs killed people. Even though the native population had learned to accept it as best they could, Frank knew if he lost one of his boys---especially to those predators---he would simply cease to exist, would be dead inside. He'd do anything in his power to stop that from happening…but actively, indiscriminately wiping them out as Dane and Payden were trying to do offended Frank.

"And hunting people is okay, too? You didn't go to the trouble of singling me out as bait for a dinosaur. And if you don't want Karl or Jack, who do you want? Whoever it is, I'm not going to sit here while you murder them!" Frank promised. He wished Payden were stupid enough to step closer. His hands might be tied, but Frank was sure he could do the Outsider some damage just using his legs. _This guy is psycho…no wonder David ran from the pack…_

…ran away and rescued Marion. She had said so. Rescued her and escaped through carnosaur territory. Through these hunting grounds. Right around the same time Gabriel Dane lost most of his hand…

Oh crap.

The brush along the trail rustled, the noise barely audible above the sounds of the river. There was also the distinct noise of feet crunching the dirt and twigs along the path. It wasn't the heavy, ground-jolting thuds of T-Rex steps; it was the light gait of a human. Frank drew a breath to shout a warning, but Payden guessed his intentions at once. In two steps, the Outsider strode over and delivered a punch to Frank's chest that knocked the wind—and any ability to speak---right out of the off-worlder. Frank could only gasp for air that wouldn't come while Payden hid behind the trees.

Moments later, even as Frank struggled not to lose consciousness, David Barrett walked into the clearing.

David looked around the clearing. Below Frank Scott was a steel gate covering one of the pits that Dane and Payden used to protect themselves from carnosaurs. A small fire burned near the pit. Beside the grate, there was a leg iron. It was meant to hold sheep and small animals in place to lure T-Rex and pteranodon into the clearing so Payden or Dane could kill the scalies. The small cuff that held small mammals had been replaced with a larger shackle…ankle sized. Obviously, Payden intended to use different bait for the carnosaurs tonight. Just out of reach of the leg shackle and chain was the lock for the grate. David was familiar with the lock. It would have two settings: The first was the weight-trigger setting, where any weight on the grate would open it. The second was the lock setting, where the grate wouldn't open even if a T-Rex stood on it, thus protecting whoever was in the pit beneath the grate.

"We missed you at the rendezvous this morning, Payden," David greeted. "Now I know why." A bone dagger was tucked into Payden's belt. Borale could draw the blade and slit Frank's throat before David could run across the clearing, so Barrett stopped where he was.

"You didn't expect forgiveness from Gabriel Dane, did you Barrett?" Payden tsked.

"No. I know---betrayal undermines authority with the pack, blah, blah, blah. I'd say kidnapping isn't your style, Payden, but _is_ there anything that isn't your style?" David watched for any hint of movement from the larger man. "This is a lot of trouble just to kill me."

"You've caused Gabriel a lot of trouble. I tried to warn him about you. From the day I pulled you out of the sea, I knew it was a mistake bringing you into the pack."

"The weakest link, right?"

"You were never weak, Barrett. Not here…" Payden pointed to his temple. "The weak-minded can be trained. If they can't be educated, they'll become obedient through discipline…"

"Discipline as in kicking the crap out of them?"

"…but off-worlders have their own ideas. They're intractable. Untrainable. Strong in the mind. Gabriel thought you could learn the ways of the pack. I didn't. I saw in your eyes that you would never have the stomach for the pack life. You don't have a hunter's heart…a predator's heart. I tried to tell Gabriel that, but he had to find out the hard way." Payden grinned, almost in approval. "Still, I admit, you surprised me in one way---I never expected you'd have it in you to sic a T-Rex on Gabriel. Neither did he. Maybe you learned something after all. You must have—you kept yourself alive without us…until now."

"And that's why we're here? The T-Rex thing? Dane takes things too personally."

"I agree. Emotions get you killed…but look who I'm talking to, a man foolish enough to die over an old off-worlder."

"But it's real genius to abduct a dino-scout's dad just because Gabriel tells you."

Payden belly-laughed, nodding in concession. "I do miss our debates, Barrett."

"Debates? I disagree, you beat me into a pulp. Not exactly an enlightened exchange."

The outsider pulled a tightly-packed bundle of leafs from his coat and tossed it onto the fire. Green smoke with a sweet odor filled the air. "Do you remember what this is?" Payden asked.

"Brindlebar." David worked to keep his tone neutral. The leaf was a favorite of the carnosaurs. The smell of its smoke was meant to attract the T-Rex.

"You always did have a good head for botany." Payden's smile turned to a scowl in the blink of an eye. The slightest twitch of his arm was David's warning before the outsider pulled a bag of powder from his pocket and pitched it at the younger man. David dodged, his hand going into his own pocket. He withdrew an identical power bomb and hurled it at Payden. The large man sidestepped easily, and his smile returned. "You learned very well. Very well indeed. What a shame to have our lessons end here…but fitting."

"Okay, I'll bite, how so?" David asked, keeping his eyes carefully on the outsider. Behind Payden, his father was beginning to stir. David didn't want to alert Payden to that fact.

"I saved your life. Now I'll correct that mistake."

"You know you have to let the old man go, Payden. You aren't stupid enough to take on the entire dino-scout corps."

"You didn't bring them along, did you?" Payden asked, suspiciously.

David made a face. "Like they'd help me?"

Borale shrugged. "I can't be sure---you've been making some strange friends lately: Scalies, Le Sage…"

"You know how it goes---just out of the pack, needed some new friends. Figured after you and Dane, the pterosaur was a trade up." It was no fun insulting Payden—barbs just rolled off the man---but David couldn't resist, especially if it distracted the man from hurting Frank.

A T-Rex bellowed in the distance…the agitated cry David knew all to well was in response to its first sniff of brindlebar smoke. It would start seeking out of the source of the smell now. They were running out of time. He had to get Frank off that rope and into the pit before the carnosaur showed up or he was going to die right along with David. "What do you want, Payden?"

Payden pointed to the shackle. "Step in."

David didn't move. "The old man---put him in the pit first."

Frank finally found his voice. He coughed out a protest: "David, don't---"

Payden silently agreed. Without a word, he swiftly drew the dagger and sliced through the rope holding Frank. Frank dropped onto the grate, which popped open at his weight and dumped him into the pit. Payden kicked the trigger and the grate locked in place. David let out the breath he'd been holding: Frank wouldn't be able to get out until Karl came to get him, but at least he'd be safe from the predators.

Payden used the knife to point to the leg iron. "You know better than to cross me."

"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with." David crossed over to the pit. Payden stepped back, staying out of David's reach, as the younger man put one foot into the shackle. Holding the knife ready, Payden checked to be sure the iron was secure around Barrett's leg, then produced a key and locked the shackle in place. It was painfully tight, even with David's boot between his leg and the cuff. "Happy now?"

Payden didn't look happy. He put the tip of the dagger to David's throat. "I promised Dane to leave you for the predators. He wanted you alive when they started chewing on you. I, on the other hand, hate messy endings…and I think a sacrifice like the one your making for the old man merits a more merciful death. Besides, the blood will bring the predators faster…"

David felt the blade pressing into his throat just as Karl's voice boomed, "David!"


	26. Chapter 26

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

The skybax rider appeared from the sidetrail in a blur. Heedless of the dagger, or the fact that Payen was twice as large and fully capable of pulverizing him, Karl jumped onto the hulking outsider.

Frank heard his older son's voice. "Karl?" _What was Karl doing here? Was he actually helping David Barrett? He was supposed to be on the other side of the island._ Frank couldn't see what was going on from down in the pit—not what Payden was doing to David or what was going on with Karl now. _If that Outsider hurt either of those boys_…. Frank tried jumping, tried to catch a hold of the grate, but it was too high up. The walls of the pit were too smooth to allow climbing. There was no way out. Frank slammed his fist into the wall in helpless rage.

"Oh great…" David watched Karl's feeble efforts to attack the Outsider. Karl hung on Payden's back, but only for a few seconds. With one arm, Payden reached around and flipped the teenager over his shoulder. Grabbing Karl's shirt, the Outsider flung the boy right into David. Both boys landed hard on the ground. Karl's elbow accidentally connected with David's ribs, knocking the wind out of him so effectively that it almost triggered one of David's asthma attacks.

As David lay there, suddenly having to concentrate just to breathe, Payden lifted Karl aside and tossed him onto the grate. Borale glared at Barrett: "You disobeyed my order!"

David gasped, "Emotions---they'll get---you killed---remember?"

Payden leaned until his face was inches from the boy's, face tight with fury. "Not me, boy…just you three. Starting with the dino-scout."

Moving with speed that surprised even himself, David swung his leg so that the chain wrapped itself around Payden's neck and pulled as hard as he could. Payden hadn't expected it either. His eyes bulged as his air was cut off and the links dug into his neck. He clawed desperately with one hand at the chain. His other hand raised the dagger. His gaze flicked towards Karl, who was still prone on the grate, and Payden raised the blade to drive it into the skybax rider's heart…

"No!" David snatched up a rock and pitched it at the gate's trigger. It was a direct hit—the trigger shifted its position and the grate instantly yielded to Karl's weight. The teenager dropped into the pit and Payden's dagger found only empty air. The gate swung shut with a clink. The outsider growled for frustration and turned back towards David.

Frank managed to half catch Karl when the boy unexpectedly plunged into the pit. He helped his son find his footing. "Karl? Are you all right?"

Karl squinted in the dim light of the pit. "Dad!" _They'd made it in time. Dad was alive!_ With a prayer of thanks, Karl hugged his father fiercely. "Am _I_ all right? What about you?"

"Fine---" Frank began, until the ground shook in unison with the bellow of the T-Rex, significantly closer than it had been when it first roared.

Karl glanced at the grate above their heads. David was still chained up there with the predator approaching---and Payden had a dagger. "Dad, boost me up!" He pointed to the grate.

Payden felt the stab of his blade hit home. There was a grunt from Barrett, which was drowned out by another roar from the T-Rex. The resistance from the younger man abruptly ceased and the chain around Borale's neck went slack. Payden gasped for air and freed himself from the links before he wiped the dirt from his face. He was rewarded with the sight of Barrett pulling Payden's dagger from his shoulder. Blood seeped from the wound onto the dirt. Borale snatched the blade away from the younger man's weakened grip.

"Don't worry, Barrett---you were lucky: The wound won't kill you before the scalie does." With a grin of satisfaction, Payden climbed his feet. He untangled himself from David's chain and gave the wounded man a kick that sent him rolling onto the grate.

Karl's fingers only brushed the steel gate before David landed there, propelled by the blow from Payden. The gate swung open beneath his weight, sending Barrett and Karl both tumbling back into the pit. The gate tried to close automatically once relieved of David's weight, but the chain still attached to David's ankle prevented it from shutting. The fall and the abrupt stop with the chain might have snapped David's ankle if Frank instinctively hadn't moved to catch the tumbling form. Karl managed to land on his feet this time.

Supporting the boy, using one arm to try to hold him so that he wasn't hanging quite upside down, Frank felt something sticky on David's shoulder. "Oh God…" It had a metallic smell. Blood. Scott felt at the boy's shoulder in the dim light until his hands hit a spot that made David grunt in pain even in his semiconscious state.

"David?" Karl rushed to join them, blanching at the blood staining his brother's shirt beneath Frank's fingers. "Ohmygod…dad, what--?"

"Where's the key to this contraption?" Frank glared at the chain as if his stare would melt the links.

"Payden…aw man…." Karl felt himself start to panic, but he didn't have that luxury. So, he did what the Corps had trained him to do in a terrifying situation and analyzed. They had to get David out of this chain and back to Waterfall City where someone could help him. They needed the key to unlock the cuff. Payden had the key. Plus, there was at least one T-Rex stomping towards the pit at the moment and the gate wouldn't lock with the chain blocking it. If it wasn't locked, if David was still chained, the T-Rex would pull him up like a fish on a hook, and---

He decided without hesitation. "Dad, take care of David. I'll be right back." Karl grabbed David's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Hang on, bro. Don't go anywhere."

Frank frowned. "Bro?"

"Long story." Karl grabbed the chain and started climbing.

"What are you doing! Karl, Get back here! There's a T-Rex up there!" Frank yelled.

Karl rolled his eyes. "I know, I know! Just take care of David, please Dad." Not looking back, Karl pulled open the gate and climbed out of the pit. Payden was nowhere to be seen. Karl cursed.

In the pit, Frank ripped the sleeve off of David's coat and began folding it into a bandage. "This is going to hurt, kid. I'm sorry." He used his free hand to put pressure on that spot, wincing in sympathy at David's grunt of pain. "Easy, I've got you."

Barrett opened his eyes just a slit and breathed something that sounded distinctly like "Dad?"

"What? '_Dad'_?" Frank puzzled. The kid had to be delirious or something, but the word still impacted him like a blow to the gut. Something about it stoked the parental instincts Frank had always felt towards the kid. It felt right somehow. But why the hell had David said it?

Karl's face appeared at the grate just for a second. "Long, _long_ story." Then he was gone, racing away in pursuit of Payden Borale.

**13**

"_Jack, get down_!"

Romana reinforced her shout of warning by reaching over and pushing the boy down flat against Pterra's large neck as a pteranodon played chicken with her mount, missing them by inches. The pterosaur feinted left and went into a dive to avoid the mid-air collision, nearly dislodging the teenager. Romana's arm came across the boy's shoulders to keep him from falling. Before they'd left Waterfall City, she'd made Jack don every piece of protective gear she could---helmet, goggles, back padding, gloves, and elbow and leg pads---but even with such cover, the pteranodon claws were deadly. The gear was three sizes too big for him, he had to hang on for dear life to keep from being tossed off the dinosaur's back, and, at the moment, Jack regretted coming along for the suicidal ride into carnosaur territory.

Marion and Noree had wanted to send in the whole of the Skybax Corps to help Karl and David. Romana had argued against it and Jack had backed her up. Everything he was starting to remember about the pack told him that Payden wasn't kidding a little bit about killing Frank if anyone besides David showed up. Under cover of night, with her expert riding skills, Romana was sure she could sneak past the outsider. An entire squad of pterosaurs would be spotted at once.

"Can we just take a sunstone with us?" Jack asked. The stones were supposed to ward off the carnosaurs.

Marion smiled. "I'm afraid the only sunstone that works without a tower was my medallion."

"Of course."

The plan was simple: Romana and Jack would fly in with the faith stone, correct the timeline, and everyone should be safely returned to where they were when the switch took place---which eliminated the need to plan how to get _out_ of the predator's territory. As for finding Karl and David, Jack's memory had already provided details of Dane's hunting grounds. If that failed, they had Pterra. The skybax's empathic link to its rider should lead them to Karl even if Jack's recollection failed them. Romana's own skybax had bellowed and sulked when she mounted Pterra instead and Jack heard her mumble something about her scalie and 'paybacks for a week.'. He'd hesitated before climbing aboard the pterosaur. It looked so cool when Karl flew, but Jack found the overgrown lizard intimidating, especially when Pterra let out a deafening, impatient bellow.

That's when Noree had called: "Jack Scott!" When he turned to her, the Keeper trotted over and, to his shock, pressed the Tohma Faiere into his gloved hand. Was the scal—the saurian---seriously trusting him with the freaky rock? This was Karl, David, and Frank's lives they were quite literally putting in his hand. At his stunned expression Noree nodded, unable to smile but conveying complete trust. "You'll need that." Behind her, Marion also gave a nod of agreement.

"It's your choice, Jack," Marion clarified. "We'll see you when this is over, one way or another."

"Hope so," Jack answered. Holding the meteorite by the chain, afraid to touch it and see more of the life he was going back to, he stuffed the stone into his jacket pocket. His finger brushed the leather Shō wristband in the pocket.

"_Don't you ever wonder, Dayel?" _

_"About you being too reckless? Absolutely."_

"No. About…what this music sounds like? About what their cities look like? About off-world?"

Jack put on the wristband for luck, and then buttoned the faith stone into the same pocket. Before he climbed onto the pterosaur, he took one last look at the band and hoped he'd at least remember how their songs sounded when he was Jack Barrett again.

Now, in the heart of carnosaur territory, Jack wavered between worry for Karl, Frank, and even David Bar—_Scott_---and fear that he and Romana weren't going to survive long enough to deliver the faith stone in his pocket.

"Ro!" Jack waved to get her attention and pointed skyward. The pteranodon was coming up behind them again and fast.

"Hold on!" she ordered.

_What did she think he was doing_? Jack grimaced as Pterra went into a steeper dive, plunging like the world's scariest rollercoaster ride, heading for the river below. For a moment, he thought they were going into the water, but Romana pulled up at the last minute and Pterra glided only a few feet above the river. He was going to be airsick. "Any chance you can drop me off?" he joked.

Then, in the faint moonlight, he saw something out the corner of his eye, and it definitely wasn't a dinosaur. He would have known that face anywhere---now that he had his memory back, that is. Even worse, the figure on the riverbank had spotted the pterosaur. _He saw us, he saw us, oh man, Payden saw us…_

"Payden! Ro, that was Payden! Go back!" Jack gestured frantically towards the riverbank. _Payden was alone. Where was Karl? Or Frank? Or David? Something was wrong, something was very wrong…_

"Little busy here!" she answered. Her attention was on the pteranodon rapidly closing in on them. Doubling back, Romana urged Pterra straight for the edge of the sunstone's reach until the carnosaur, unable to tolerate its rays any longer, finally let out a cry of rage and veered away.

The ground shook again with the force of the predator's stomping, harder this time, nearly tearing David out of Frank's grip when the chain snapped in reaction to the quaking. The T-Rex was definitely in the vicinity of the pit, Frank knew. He hoped Karl was putting distance between himself and the carnosaur, but Frank had to do something or he and David were going to end up being that reptile's dinner. First thing, he had to get the boy out of that shackle.

"David? " Frank shook the younger man's good shoulder. When David didn't respond, the older man barked in parental authority: "Wake up!"

David's eyes opened at once.

Frank grinned. "I'm going to get this chain off, son, but you have to hold this bandage for a minute and keep your eyes open. You hear me? Can you do that?" Very slowly, the younger man nodded and lifted one hand to press against the bandage. The droop of the kid's eyes gave Frank his doubts. He had to keep Barrett awake and alert. Frank frowned at the tattoo on David's hand. "Tats…I'll tell you, no kid of mine is ever getting a tat…"

Then the Shō logo gave Frank an idea: "David? Wake up." The boy's eyes had drifted shut already. Frank shook him awake again. "You like that Shō band? I'll bet you the rest of my stash of Coca-Cola that you can't name all of their songs right now. Hear me?"

David's brow furrowed, hazily trying to make sense of the request in his semiconscious state. "What?"

"Shō's songs. Start naming them. I'm serious." Frank pulled the pocketknife from his boot and went to work on the shackle's lock. Fortunately, Payden had deemed the off-worlder a minor threat, if any at all, and hadn't bothered to check Scott for weapons. Frank hadn't been hanging around the Dinotopians so long that he'd forgotten the value of keeping a pocketknife handy in case of emergencies…although in his most far-fetched imaginings he wouldn't have thought he'd be using it to try to pry open the lock of a medieval leg cuff.

"End…of my…world," the boy mumbled.

Frank felt the lock give a bit. "You would have to start with that one, wouldn't you? Next?"

"'Nother Fine Mess…of Mine…Pretty Traitor…"

The lock snapped open and David started to fall. Frank nearly broke his own neck trying to prevent the boy from hitting the floor head-first. David bit his lip hard against the agony in his shoulder as he felt himself eased to the ground. "Easy, kid, I gotcha," the older man promised.

At the sudden absence of the shackle and the pain of hanging upside down by one leg, David managed to lift his head long enough to stare at his foot. He was free. "How---?"

"You're not the only one who knows how to pick a lock," Frank smirked. The younger man tried to laugh in response, but it came out as a breath. The problem of getting David free resolved, Frank had to get that chain out of the way and lock that gate. The tremors of the T-Rex footfalls were growing stronger and more frequent. "Keep naming the songs, David, I'll be right back, I promise."

Listening to make sure the boy obeyed, Frank climbed the chain, grunting a bit at the exertion it took. _I'm getting too old for this…_ He was sweating by the time he reached the grate. He laced his fingers through the steel and let go of the chain. The gate opened beneath his weight and Frank swung out of the pit and onto solid ground. Up there on the surface, Frank could hear trees and bushes rustling and breaking as the constant shaking of the ground heralded the T-Rex's approach.

Hurriedly, leaving the chain in place so it would prop the gate open for him, Frank ran to the gate's lock and moved it from the 'weight-trigger' to the 'lock' position just as he'd seen Payden do. He avoided a glance at the blood spilled across the dirt, sick at the thought of what it was and how it got there. Then he raced back to the gate, held the gate open with one foot while he moved the chain out of its way, and dropped into the pit. The gate snapped shut behind him and locked just seconds before the T-Rex stomped into the clearing.

David was trying to sit up, groaning as he did so. Frank moved to help. "What are--?"

The question was lost amid the roar of the carnosaur. The T-Rex's head appeared above them. It banged at the gate with its massive nose, smelling blood and brindlebar smoke, trying to break through the bars to get to the humans in the pit. Frank could smell its breath as it bellowed and almost gagged at the stench. It was a futile effort, but Frank still instinctively put his body between David and the predator. Payden was right about one thing: If Frank had a weapon at the moment, he would have used it, if for no other reason than to protect the boy, and he wouldn't have felt guilty about it at all.

Frank felt something soft pressed into his hand. He looked and found David passing two cloth bags to him. David nodded to the T-Rex. "Throw them."

Asking no questions, Frank lobbed the first bag at the reptilian head. The cloth bag broke open upon impact with the bars, scattering powder. Most of it was inhaled by the T-Rex's massive nostril. Frank threw the second bag, with the same results, and this time the carnosaur withdrew its nose from the grate. He saw it bob its head as it backed away from the pit and frantically tried to shake the powder out of its nose. Seconds passed, and eventually, the T-Rex abandoned the pit altogether and stomped deeper into the forest. Frank's relief was short-lived: The predator was moving in the direction Karl and Payden had gone.


	27. Chapter 27

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

They had circled back to the place where Jack had spied Payden, with Pterra staying low, just above the river, to try to avoid the attention of any other predators lurking in the woods. There was no sign of the Outsider. That frightened Jack: Payden had seen them. They'd disobeyed his instructions not to send riders to help Frank. He said he'd kill Frank if they did. And where was Karl? Where was David?

"You're sure this is where you saw Payden?" Romana asked.

There was a snap and a creak like the sound of a tree falling and something exploded out of the bushes and flew at them. Pterra feinted, but the object was too large to avoid. Before Romana or Jack reacted, a net began tangling itself around the skybax, interfering with its wings. Jack squirmed, trying to keep from being caught in the ropes. Unable to move, to fly, with the encumbrance, Pterra fell like a rock. _Snare trap,_ Jack remembered. Payden and Dane used them to net pteranodons. He should have known Payden would use it.

The length of rope attached to the net kept Pterra from hitting the earth. As the rope snapped, just a few feet from the ground, Jack felt himself tossed clear of the dinosaur and the net. He ended up with face down on the riverbank, dazed by the fall. The net imprisoning Pterra and Romana swung, suspended from the trees above him. "Pretty sure," he answered Romana's question grimly. Romana didn't respond. Was she unconscious?

_The faith stone!_ Jack patted his pocket. To his horror, the pocket was ripped and the stone was gone. _It must have fallen out when we crashed._ "Oh no…no…" Pushing himself painfully to his hands and knees, Jack searched frantically for the stone. He couldn't see with the bulky helmet and goggles or feel the stone with his gloves on, so Jack ditched the gear and then resumed his search. He hoped it had landed in the dirt---if it had fallen into the water, it was gone forever…

A boot appeared in front of Jack's face. He peered up into the face of Payden Borale for the second time that day. Memories flooded back: Payden killing scalies. Payden beating obedience into anyone who disobeyed him or Dane. Payden pitching Jack's off-worlder treasures into the surf. Jack scrambled away from the man, scared down to his soul.

"You're the tavern owner's boy. I warned you about bringing the skybax riders," Payden lumbered after Jack, hand going to his belt and the blade tucked there.

Jack held up his hands, signaling innocence. "Totally not my idea, Payden, I swear. I told them what you said. What did you do to Karl and Fr---?"

Payden stopped in his tracks. Something had drawn his attention. Jack followed his gaze and saw the blue meteorite resting in the sand. _Okay, please don't let Payden know what the space rock is,_ the boy prayed.

Borale moved towards the rock. Knowing he was going to get his butt kicked for it, Jack still moved to try to grab it first. "…Oh hey, that's where that went. Thanks for finding it, Payden. Got it out of a dime machine at the Toledo K-Mart. I'll just take it…"

Too late. Payden beat him to the stone and picked it up by its chain. When Jack made a snatch at it, Payden shoved him aside effortlessly. "Tohma Faiere," Payden breathed, forgetting Jack altogether. He started to walk away from the boy.

Jack followed, certain he'd regret it. "What? I think you're confused, pal, I told you: Discount store kiddie prize. Take a look, I'm sure it says 'Made in Taiwan' somewhere on there. Just hand it over and I'll take the skybax and get out of your hair…"

Jack couldn't let him take the stone. He'd messed things up enough as it was, he had to fix the timeline. He couldn't do it without the stone…and he was afraid of how much damaged Payden would do with the space rock. Jack searched for a weapon, but found only tiny pebbles and riding gear. It would have to do. Scared of how many ways Payden would retaliate for this, Jack picked up the heavy riding helmet and pitched it right at the outsider's head. _Direct hit_! The tall Outsider didn't drop the stone, but he was caught off-guard. Jack dove and tried to tear the stone out of Payden's hand without actually touching the rock. Payden picked him up by his throat and lifted him until Jack's feet no longer touched the ground.

"Do you know what this is, boy?" Payden asked. "This is the power to erase the scalies from history. This is safety for every man, woman, and child on this island. This is no toy." It was more than Payden could have hoped for, stumbling across this prize. It was all he'd ever wanted. He began to recite the inscription: "A_nghara pharneilos…_"

"Don't!" Since it was the only recourse left, Jack kneed Payden as hard as he could right in groin. Payden cried out, almost doubled over, but never relinquished his grip on the boy or the stone. _What's it take to bring this guy down?_ Jack wondered.

"…_tharmha tohma faiere," _Payden squeaked out. Jack closed his eyes in anticipation of blue light and bad memories…

Nothing happened. An eternity passed. Payden repeated the incantation and still nothing happened. Jack finally dared to open his eyes, to find the Outsider glaring at him. "What's wrong with this stone?"

"One wish at a time. Someone else is using it right now. Sorry," Jack taunted.

Payden tightened his grip on Jack's neck. "You're lying! You don't understand what this stone means, how many lives it can save, how many children would grow up without fear of the scalies. Tell me how it works!"

_Children..._ Jack remembered something important. _I wonder if----?_

"Tell me!" Payden raged.

Jack had to struggle to get the words out. "Not until you give me Karl and Frank…uh, oh yeah, and David Barrett, too. Give me them or I won't tell you anything!" he demanded with bravado he didn't feel.

"I can't give them to you, boy. They're dead. The T-Rex will have them by now."

Jack didn't believe it. He had to work not to betray tears, not to cry in front of the outsider. _Please don't let them be dead._ "You're lying! Where are they!" He didn't want to believe it.

"I can snap your neck, boy."

"No you can't. You need me. Where are they?"

Payden yelled, "I told you---_dead_! Show me how the Tohma Faiere works and I'll bring them back."

Jack would have shaken his head if he could move his neck with Payden's fist around it. "It doesn't work like that, Payden. That freaky rock is a monkey's paw. You think you can get whatever you want with it---then it gooses you." The islander was visibly baffled, not catching any of the references. "Even if I showed you, it won't do what you want it to do. It won't make a perfect life...and it won't bring back Dayel."

The words hit home. Payden faltered. The stone cold expression Jack had always seen him wear softened into sorrow. So, Jack had guessed right---even in this timeline, Payden's son had died. Jack's absence from the pack hadn't changed _that_ fact. "The pack always comes first right?" the boy added.

Too far---Jack saw it in Payden's eyes, the change that signified he'd just decided that the youth was expendable. The vice-like hold tightened and Jack briefly wondered if it would hurt when the Outsider snapped his neck…

"_Payden_!"

It was a voice from the grave…or was supposed to be a voice from the grave. It forestalled Payden's murdering Jack. The brush near the trail rustled. Payden and Jack both turned to see Karl Scott standing in a grove of trees. Jack noted that the skybax rider did _not_ look happy and felt renewed fear for Frank and David's lives. Karl's spared Jack a quick glance to be sure the boy was still alive, then focused entirely on Payden. "Letting a predator sneak up on you, Borale? Sloppy," Karl baited him.

That's when Karl stepped aside to reveal the ropes hidden behind his back. The ropes went up into the trees, over the branches, and down to a very large log suspended there. The log had been sharpened to a point and was large enough to pierce a T-Rex's heart---

---or knock the towering Outsider off his feet, Karl bet. Payden couldn't open his mouth to reply before Karl tugged on the rope. The knot smoothly came undone and the log swung like a pendulum down upon Payden. "Jack, move!" Karl warned.

Jack head-butted Payden, almost knocking himself out in the process. "_Ow_!" But it worked---Payden, staggering from the blow and trying to dodge the on-coming log, dropped the boy. Jack tried to snatch the faith stone on his way down, but Payden wasn't dazed enough to let that happen. As Payden stepped out of the log's path, his boot came down on the wet, slippery rocks near the waterline and he lost his footing. The Outsider plunged into the river---taking the Tohma Faiere with him.

"Sonuva---" Payden had the key to the shackle and the Tohma Faiere. Karl watched their only chance to switch, to save David, being swept away in the current with Borale. Karl ran for the shoreline and dove into the water in pursuit of the faith stone.

"Karl!" Jack shouted, feeling completely helpless. He'd totally screwed up this rescue…

"Jack!"

Romana was calling him. He'd forgotten she and Pterra were still trapped in that net. Jack looked up and saw her struggling with the ropes. "Jack, get us out of this!"

Nodding, Jack pushed himself to his feet and ran for the trees to untie the rope holding the net in place.

The current was strong and the water was cool, but not freezing thankfully. Blue visions of himself and David bobbing down this river tried to overwhelm Karl, but he fought them back. He kept his head above the water and his eyes on Payden Borale. The Outsider wasn't getting away, not while he had the key and the faith stone. He swam with the current, gaining fast on Payden, who was more concerned with fighting the current to reach the shore than with the skybax rider pursuing him. Stretching his arm, Karl's fingers just managed to snag Payden's collar. That was all Karl needed---he dragged himself the rest of the way to Payden and did his best to land a punch without submerging himself. There was a bruise forming on Payden's forehead where Jack had struck him. Karl aimed at second blow at that target. Borale let out a muffled grunt, but wouldn't fight back—he couldn't, not when he had the faith stone in one hand and needed his free hand to fight the current. Karl grabbed for the faith stone with both hands, trying to pry Payden's fingers off the rock one by one. The current pulled him under, and Karl let go with just one hand long enough to pull himself back to the surface.

Payden used the arm holding the stone to push the skybax rider under the water again, holding him there until Karl had to let go of the rock or be drowned. The river began to sweep him past Borale and Karl swam with all his fading strength against the current to get back to Payden. _No way, you're not getting away with that stone._ Karl stretched his arm towards the Outsider and came up with a handful of Payden's shirtsleeve. He made another grab for the faith stone, wrapping his fingers over Payden's hand. The Outsider snarled and swung the hand that clutched the meteorite so that Karl punched himself in the nose with his own fist. He felt a trickle of blood and an ache from the blow, but did not let go of Payden's hand.

They were swept around a bend in the river and the current grew stronger. Karl was familiar with the topographical maps of the island and knew they were coming up on rapids and rocks. He wasn't going to have the reserves left to avoid being smashed against the obstacles or pulled under the water. In a last ditch effort, he tried biting Payden's hand and was rewarded with another dunking. Karl kept his tight grip on the man's sleeve even as he tried to kick back to the surface.

Beneath the water, Karl spied a danger that Payden couldn't see from the surface: The first of the underwater boulders. The way the current was carrying them they would both be smashed against the rock. It was too late to avoid the collision.

Still under the water, still holding fast to the faith stone, Karl kicked as hard as he could manage, maneuvering so that Payden's body was between himself and the large boulder. He pulled himself to the surface in time to see the Outsider collide heavily with the rock. Karl slammed against Borale, the larger man body's sparing him the impact with the boulder. The blow knocked Payden out cold. The hand that had fought Karl for the Tohma Faiere now slackened and released the pendant into the skybax's rider's fist. Karl tried to keep his hold on the unconscious Outsider, but the pull of the current against his own diminishing strength was too strong and Borale was torn from Karl's grasp and swept further downstream.

He didn't have time to worry about Payden's fate when it was likely that Karl himself was going to drown before he could reach the shore. Karl fought with all he had: He didn't come this far to die in the river. He wanted to reach the shore. He wanted to get back to his father and his brother. He wanted to put things right. He wanted his family back…

Something strong and inhuman suddenly caught him by the shoulders and Karl felt himself yanked from the water and into the air. He turned his head and saw unmistakably reptilian claws holding him. For an instant, he panicked that he'd just been picked up by a pteranodon and was about the become its dinner…then he heard a familiar cry and the touch of Pterra's mind along their rider/skybax empathic link. Karl looked up and sure enough it was his own pterosaur that had just pulled him from the river. From her place on Pterra's back, Romana Denison nodded to her wingmate in response to his unspoken thanks.


	28. Chapter 28

_See part one for explanation and disclaimers. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does. Hallmark still owns the characters and I'm still not profiting from this. Hope you're enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for action/violence and mild language._

Jack had been listening to the roar of T-Rex nearby and feeling the ground shake from their footsteps. Being eaten was a very real concern---but Jack had been more worried about whether Romana had been able to pluck Karl from the river. He was frantically pacing along the riverbank by the time Pterra returned with the two riders. "Karl!" Jack ran to meet him. To the boy's great relief, Karl had the faith stone firmly in his hand. He still didn't look happy though. "Are you all right?"

"No." The word came out harsher than he'd intended due to the skybax rider's frustration. They had the faith stone, but Payden still had slipped away with the key to the shackle. Jack paled a bit, thinking the anger was directed at him for screwing up and letting Payden steal the stone. Reading that fear on the boy's face, Karl caught him in a one-armed hug. "Am I all right? What the hell are you doing here? Not that I'm not grateful."

Jack grinned. "What am I doing here? Saving your butt! Ew, you're really soaking me here, bro." The boy pulled back from the soaking wet rider as freezing cold river water seeped into his own shirt.

"Who saved who here? _I'm_ the one who knocked Payden into the river."

"Yeah and who let Ro out of the net so she could save you? And who brought you the faith stone?"

Karl stared at the meteorite, then turned to look Jack in the eye. Jack had brought the Tohma Faiere. Did that mean he was okay with switching back? "You're sure about this?" Karl asked him.

Jack nodded. "Don't make me think about it, I might change my mind. What about Frank and David? Are they all right?"

Karl's expression was grim. That look in his eyes was scaring Jack to death. "No, they're not. We have to get back to the pit---"

The T-Rex bellowed from very close by---from the path. Karl, Romana, and Jack turned to see trees sway from the jolt of its footsteps and the first hint of its shadow in the moonlight. It was coming their way. _Coming from the direction of the pit_, Karl noted miserably. _Dad and David…_

The trio backed to the water's edge. Karl and Romana searched for a means of escape, both coming to the same conclusion: The only avenue of escape from the predator was Pterra. Pterra could only carry two passengers. Karl didn't know if the skybax could manage to lift him with its claws while carrying both Romana and Jack on its back. "Oh great…Romana, you have to get Jack out of here," Karl said.

Romana shook her head. "I'm not leaving you here, Scott."

Jack protested: "What kind of plan is that?"

"Jack, will you listen to me---?" Karl started to yell. However, it was too late for debating. The words were barely out when the T-Rex appeared on the trail. It spied the trio and roared.

A beam of sunstone light cut through the air and hit the T-Rex directly in its face as if sent by Divine intervention. The carnosaur halted in place, shying away from the repellent light.

Dumbfounded, the riders and the boy searched out the source of the beam. A flash of albino pterosaur skin streaked down from the sky. Next thing they knew, David's skybax had placed itself between them and the T-Rex. A blonde Outsider was wielding Marion's sunstone medallion at the T-Rex like a cross warding off a vampire. The sunstone reacted to the presence of the carnosaur by glowing with its full radiance. The T-Rex let out another cry of distress and took a few steps backwards, trying to escape from the glow.

"Back!" the blonde Outsider roared at the predator. The pterosaur reinforced this command by beating its wings at the T-Rex and keened a threat at the larger dinosaur. Under the force of the sunstone, the carnosaur had no choice but to retreat. It uttered one last unhappy cry and vanished into the forest. More cries of distress filled the night as the beams sought out the unseen pteranodons, T-Rex, and other threats in the forest and chased them away. When the last flutter of wings and pounding of feet faded away, the sunstone light abated. The albino pterosaur alighted on the beach and turned its massive head towards Karl, Romana, and Jack while the blonde rider slipped off its back.

"Alano!" Karl remembered the blonde from the real timeline. "You know how to make an entrance."

Romana watched the Outsider suspiciously. "Another one from the real timeline?"

"Yeah, but he's a good guy," Karl answered.

"You're sure?" Jack ducked behind Karl as the blonde Outsider advanced on the riders.

"Where's Payden Borale? Where's David Barrett! He'd better be alive or I'll---" Alano lifted a hand to point a warning finger at Karl, but missed when the skybax rider suddenly ran for the trail. Alano ended up landing his finger on Jack's chest.

"David! Dad! Jack, come on!" Karl called back to them. Jack shrugged amiably at the Outsider and ran after his brother.

When he ran into the clearing, the first thing Karl noticed was that the chain lay discarded on the ground and the pit's gate was locked tight. For an awful moment, he was afraid that the T-Rex had already killed David…but some part of his mind that was still rational noted that, if David had been devoured by the predator there would be gruesome evidence of that fact all over the clearing. The very thought made him want to vomit. There were no such signs---there was the stain of blood from before, but nothing else. The shackle had been popped open as if someone had unlocked it and the gate was shut tight. The trigger had been moved to the 'lock' position. _Maybe, just maybe_…. Karl fell to his knees beside the pit: "_Dad! David_!"

"Karl?" Frank's voice answered.

Karl felt himself shaking and didn't know if it was the cold or gratitude to the angels for that miracle. He didn't know how it had happened, how they'd got David out of that chain or locked the gate, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He squinted into the darkness of the pit, impatiently willing his eyes to adjust to the gloom. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"We're fine. Don't ever run off like that again. You scared me to death."

"What the…" Jack had followed Karl into the clearing. The first thing he saw was the hunting pit and shackle. Then he saw the small but distinct bloodstain on the ground. He kneeled next to Karl by the gate. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Frank and David at the bottom of the pit. Frank had one arm firmly supporting the younger man. His other hand was holding a cloth stained with blood to Barrett's shoulder. Jack blanched. He didn't know David was hurt, but he knew one thing for sure: When they switched back and Frank found out this entire mess was basically Jack's fault, the tavern owner was going to kill him. "Oh man…Karl, I'm sorry…"

"Not your fault, Jack," Karl reassured him.

Frank saw the boy crouched beside Karl. "Jack? Are you boys all right?"

"Dad? How'd you open that lock?" Karl asked.

"I picked it. Your old man wasn't exactly a saint in his youth, you know," his father answered.

"Can I remind him he said that after the switch?" Jack quietly asked Karl.

"I wouldn't." Karl rose and hurried to unlock the gate.

Alano and Romana stepped into the clearing. The skybax rider was keeping a careful eye on the Outsider. Alano took in the situation in a single glance: A dwindling fire to attract predators, the scattered powders, the pit where Dane had lost most of his hand, a leg iron, and blood. He stepped over to check the pit and scowled dangerously at the sight that greeted him. "Who did that?" he demanded of Karl, indicating his injured friend.

"Two guesses," Karl said.

David opened his eyes a slit. "Al? Where'd you come from?"

Alano gave a grim salute for hello. "Le Sage and me intercepted a birdie from Payden. Would have been here sooner, 'cept Le Sage and me had a word with our friend Dane. He'd be here, too, if he wasn't chained to a dock. Freefall helped me find you. He always knows where you are." From its perch on the rocks with Pterra, the albino pterosaur whuffed in agreement.

Barrett's mouth twitched in something like a smile. "Did you unchain Dane before high tide?"

Aanol snickered, "Oops."

Karl moved the trigger and Jack pushed the gate open. He followed as the skybax rider jumped into the pit. Romana and Alano stayed above to help when they were ready to climb out. Seeing David and his injury, Romana's scowl matched Alano and Karl's.

"How ya doing, bro?" Karl moved directly to David's side, seeing for himself that his brother was still alive. David was working with all his might to keep his eyes open. He was pleased to see that the T-Rex hadn't eaten Karl, but he wasn't going to waste his energy dignifying such a ridiculous question with an answer. Instead, he managed a small smile in reply.

"We have to get him back to Waterfall City," Frank said.

Karl disagreed, "No." Frank glowered at that, about to argue until his son added: "We have to switch back first."

David looked startled at that. He turned his head just a bit, noticing Jack's presence in the pit for the first time. The boy meekly nodded to Barrett and passed the Tohma Faiere to Karl. "You sure?" David asked Jack.

Jack was wide-eyed for nervousness. "Yeah---well, wait, just a couple of things first…" He looked at Frank Scott. "If you remember any of this after we switch back, please don't kill me."

Frank was still clueless as to what was going on. David hadn't been lucid enough to fill him in on the events at the Sanctuary and Karl hadn't had time. "What are you talking about?"

"Just promise," Jack answered. Then he glanced from David to Romana and back. "And when you're a skybax rider and I'm an Outsider again, do you think you can give me a break? Once in awhile?"

David and Romana answered in unison: "Not a chance." Jack gulped and Karl saw just a hint of a smile from David indicating that his brother had been teasing the boy.

"I knew you'd say that," Jack grumbled. He turned his attention to Karl and the faith stone. "I saw in that---vision—we were all three touching the freaky rock and David read that inscription."

"Noree said we have to repeat it exactly the way we did the first time. Are you sure it was only David who said the incantation?" Karl asked.

"I'm sure," Jack said. He put his hand on the faith stone in Karl's palm and braced himself. Blue light started to fill his mind.

Karl took David's arm and wrapped both his hand and David's around Jack's hand. Karl knew what had to be done, he only hoped David could do it. His brother's eyes had drifted shut. Karl called: "David? David!" When his brother woke again, Karl continued, "You have to say the prayer on the stone."

David glimpsed the footprint language on the stone. It would have been gibberish even if he had been lucid. "Can't read that…"

Karl remembered the incantation Noree had made at the temple when she had attempted to undo the meteorite's spell. He repeated it for David as best he could: "A_nghara pharneilos tharmha tohma faiere._ Say it, David." The stone didn't so much as wink when Karl said the words. _Please work,_ Karl begged the angels who had gotten them this far.

"Come on, David," Romana added her encouragement from above.

David had to concentrate against blue light and images that were trying to take hold of him. "A_nghara pharneilos tharmha tohma faiere…"_

The blue light engulfed Jack first, then its rays shot out like laser beams to Karl and the semiconscious David as well.

Karl had shut his eyes against the blinding glare of the faith stone and the onslaught of the visions it produced. The blue visions may have ceased, but now memories were resurfacing in him like pieces of a dream bubbling to the waking mind…memories Karl were sure were _true_ memories: The trip to Mexico, many plane rides, softball games, the Super Bowl fiasco, camping, dad's "adventures", stealing dad's prized (if horrible tasting) liquor and being quite ill after drinking it, the crash that stranded them on the island, Twenty-Six, the tavern, more quarrels with his brother David than Karl would like to admit to---his _real_ brother, David.

Then images had played themselves out. Abruptly, the light of the Tohma Faiere flickered and faded out for the last time.


	29. Chapter 29

_Here we are folks, your ride is slowly coming to an end. I sincerely thank you for sticking with me this far and I hope you've had a good time with this story (I'm never sure if anyone actually reads my stuff). All disclaimers from part one still apply. I still don't own the characters, Hallmark does, and I'm still not profiting from this. I don't own 'Dinotopia', James Gurney does._

**14**

Karl opened his eyes to daylight.

The forest and the hunter's pit were gone. He was back on the cobblestone streets of Waterfall City, in the exact pile of baskets where he'd landed when they'd toppled over the merchant's booth. His hands and Jack's were wrapped around the faith stone. However, despite their having returned to the scene of the crime as it were, Karl still wore the bronze-orange skybax rider uniform and Jack was still clad in the loose-fitting civilian garb that Karl normally favored. _Wait, something's wrong…why am I still dressed this way? What happened to---?_

"David!" Karl dove for the unconscious form, now lying on the pavement among the scattered baskets.

Jack was slowly opening his own eyes and glancing around. He saw the Tohma Faiere still clasped in one hand, the bone dagger upraised in his other hand, and dropped both objects as if they had bitten him. He looked from the discarded stone to Karl, who had his hands pressed over the bandages on David's shoulder, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Jack went quite ashen. "Karl, I'm----I didn't mean for…I didn't know…" he stammered.

Karl spared him a glance somewhere between pitying and murderous. He'd feel bad for Jack later, after all, the kid had gone from being a Dinotopian hero and part of the Scott family back to being an outsider and a thief in the blink of an eye, and he was visibly upset about it. Karl would deal with him later; David was Karl's immediate concern. _Why was he still hurt?_ Karl wondered in rising panic. _Why didn't that stupid rock put things back the way they were before Jack messed with it? _"Go get help…_now_, Jack!"

Jack didn't take one step before Freefall let out a deafening cry that drowned out the chatter of the curious citizens who were gathering around the trio. From his vantage point, perched atop the bridge with Pterra, the dinosaur had a clear view of what was happening. Freefall's call was a simple cry used on approach when patrols returned from a flight or a fight: "_Injured rider_." Faintly, over the thunderous beat of the agitated pterosaur's wings, Karl heard the roar of acknowledgement from the approaching saurian guards.

The quiet city suddenly came to life. Skybaxes resting below now sprang aloft and circled above, just in case they were needed. Noree and Marion heard the call from the Temple of the Falls. They hurried up the towering stairway to the street above, where spectators and guards were gathering. Alano and Romana reached the trio first. They hadn't been far behind David and Karl when the Scotts had pursued the outsider into the marketplace, but they'd briefly lost track of the boys. Now that he'd finally spotted them, Alano used his considerable size to shoulder his way through the crowd, Romana at his heels. Freefall bellowed a warning to the crowd: _Move it!_ They were blocking the path for the help he'd summoned for his rider. Obediently, the spectators made way.

Alano took in the scene with a single glance, from his injured friend to the thief to the discarded dagger. The former outsider recognized the thief at once. He frowned, then suddenly grabbed Jack and lifted him bodily off the ground by the throat. "What the bloody hell happened! Is that your doing, Barrett?" Alano pointed to David.

Jack couldn't draw enough breath to answer. He turned frantic eyes to Karl. _Alano hadn't touched the faith stone. Only people who used the Tohma Faiere would remember the other timeline. Noree had said something about that_, Karl remembered. Reluctantly, Karl spoke in the outsider's defense, "He didn't do this, Al." _Well, not directly, anyway. _"Don't kill him."

Alano merely set Jack down. His large hand still gripped Jack's neck, staying any chance of escape. "Don't even think about running. He only said not to kill you…I can do you a world of hurt without killing you."

Marion pushed her way through the crowd. "Karl! David!" She surveyed the scene and crouched beside David, pulling the cloth away from the wound to have a look. "What happened!"

"I don't understand…the spell should have ended," Karl thought aloud.

"Spell? Don't tell me you used the Tohma Faiere?" she snapped.

_She hadn't used the faith stone. She really didn't remember the other timeline,_ Karl realized. "No! Not really. I'll explain later. Help David."

Twenty-Six gave a frightened cry from where she'd hidden beneath a pile of baskets and dashed towards Karl, David, and Marion. Romana snatched up the baby casmasaur immediately, less it get trampled in the bustle of activity.

Karl turned his attention to the saurian keeper beside Marion. "It didn't work!" he snapped at Noree accusingly. "You said if we found whoever used the stone everything would change back to normal! Well, you in the _other_ timeline said that."

The Keeper was impassive. She may not know what the 'other timeline' was, but she knew what the powers of the Tohma Faiere were. "It did work."

"What are you talking about? Why do I remember that other reality? Why am I still in this uniform?" Karl waved a hand at his brother. "Why is David still hurt?"

"Calm down, Karl!" Marion said. Karl withdrew his hand to give the matriarch's daughter room to work and leaned back on his heels, watching silently while she laid a hand on David's forehead, doing her empathy/healer thing.

Noree addressed Jack. "Where is the Tohma Faiere?"

Jack, trapped in Alano's grip, couldn't move, but he pointed to the spot where he'd discarded the meteorite. "It was…I didn't mean to do it! I didn't know how the thing worked!" he squeaked. Under the force of their glares, he looked quite cowed. "I'm sorry."

Noree carefully placed the faith stone into its box. Her large, saurian eyes turned to Jack, studying him with as close to a smile as a dinosaur could manage. "The way of the faith stone, is not about blame, nor is blame the way of the Dinotopians." Jack had the feeling that she knew exactly what the stone had shown him. "Strange, isn't it?" the Keeper asked Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes. '_Strange' didn't begin to cover it._ Personally, he didn't care if he never saw that rock again.

"Speak for yourself," Romana disagreed, poking Jack in the chest with her very strong forefinger. "You'd better hope nothing happens to my wingmate, or you and I will be having a chat," she voiced what was on her, Alano, and Karl's minds.

Noree saw that Karl still looked extremely skeptical. She smiled enigmatically. "Do not worry so, Karl Scott. Physical consequences of this 'other' timeline will be real for those who used the Tohma Faiere---I presume that's you, David, and this Outsider boy? But, everything has been restored to the way it should be. See for yourself." She nodded to David.

"_See for myself_?" Karl demanded. He stood up, pacing nervously. "What does that mean? How do I do that…?" _Why did everyone on this island have to be so freakin' cryptic about the meteor rocks?_ He paused when he caught his reflection in one of the merchant's mirrors. Karl frowned at the skybax corps uniform, no longer---never---his own. His face was caked with dirt and scratches and smeared with blood. He wondered---since his sense of time was now totally screwed up by going from one 'reality' to the other---how long it had been since he'd slept. There were black circles beneath his dark eyes….

_Dark eyes…_

Karl whirled and hurried back to his brother. He elbowed past Marion, apologizing as an afterthought, and grabbed David's uninjured shoulder. First, Karl looked at his brother's hand. The Shō tattoo was still there. Was that a 'physical consequence'? Hope fading fast, Karl shook him, not at all gently. "David! Wake up! Rise and shine, bro!" he ordered.

"Karl, what are you doing---" Marion protested.

David let out a growl of extreme annoyance, face contorted in a grimace of pain, and pried one eye open just long enough to give Karl a dirty look. He muttered a threat that made even Marion gasp in shock of what he'd do if his brother didn't shut up and let him sleep. That was all right. Karl let him rest, let Marion resume tending to the knife wound. He had seen enough.

"What?" Marion asked.

"Dad's eyes. He has Dad's eyes again," Karl answered simply, smiling ear-to-ear.

They'd settled David into the guest room Flippeau had set up for the Scotts all those months ago when they were first stranded. Romana had appeared not long afterwards, having gone to retrieve Frank Scott. Jack stood in the corner of the room, under Alano's watchful eye, while Karl filled in his father about all that had happened, mentally debating whether the hulking ex-outsider or Frank Scott posed the more imminent threat of killing him on the spot. Frank's face was a mask of confusion. 'Parallel timelines' sounded like something out of a science fiction novel or a hokey television show.

"The way of the Tohma Faiere, when it was used in ancient times, was to teach," Noree explained patiently. "Without your memory of those events you experience under its power, without real physical consequences to those who use it, there can be no learning. You remember, and you will always remember, all things that are real, and all things that the faith stone showed you that might have been. In that way…" She directed her next remarks to Jack, who was doing his best to be invisible in the corner "…you receive enlightenment. Those events happened, and the physical consequences for you three remain. That, you see, is why the Tohma Faiere is kept within the Sactuary, where its powers can be controlled. You are only meant to touch the stone, receive a vision that answers whatever questions trouble your heart, and that is the end of it.

"I would not have believed the stone existed or in its powers to create alternate realities if I hadn't seen it for myself. You did not know what you had found, Jack Barrett---how could you have known? You are not to blame for what the faith stone did, Jack Barrett. You saw only a pretty rock of some value. Next time, you and I will both have to treat our artifacts with more respect and discretion."

Jack snorted, "'Next time'? Yeah, right."

The Keeper chuckled at that, as though she were privy to some joke the outsider didn't know about. She bowed to Karl and Frank. "I will take my leave, now. You will need me no longer."

"Are you sure?" Karl asked warily.

She could do no more…the Tohma Faiere could do no more. The brothers would have to make their peace with each other---or not---on their own. "Very sure, Karl Scott," she sounded amused. Then, she was gone.

Alano took his cue from her. "Er…right, well, I should take this worthless bugger to Rosemary, let everyone know David's back among the living. When the slugabed wakes up, tell 'im I'll look in later."

Karl nodded. Frank, however, intercepted Jack at the door by catching him by the back of the neck. Alano relinquished his prisoner without hesitation. Jack stared at Scott with dread. "Let's talk, you and I." Frank said. Giving David one last, worried look, he told Karl, "I'll be back in a bit" and then guided the outsider into the hallway. Jack dragged his heels like a condemned prisoner walking his last mile.

Karl sagged down onto the foot of the bed, careful not to disturb Twenty-Six, who was curled up asleep there. The casmasaur refused to let Karl out of her sight that night. He closed his tired eyes as his adrenaline began to wear off and all that had happened---in both realities-finally caught up to him. He let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for years. _Asthma, waterfalls, rampaging pteranodons, and now homicidal outsiders…if David keeps this up, we're going to have to get some Dinotopian Blue Cross for him or something._

He watched as Marion began picking up the rags and empty herb pouches that the healer had left behind. "In case I forget to say it later, thank you."

"For what?" She gave him a quizzical look.

"For what you did at the sanctuary, for helping us figure this whole mess out. I know you don't remember, but I don't think we'd have found our way out of the faith stone's spell without you."

She read the worry in his face and reassured, "He's going to be all right, Karl."

Karl nodded, grateful for that fact. Still, he had to know: "What about us? Are we all right?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"What I said this morning---well, whenever it was, my sense of time's all screwed up now---I was mad, Marion. I didn't mean it. It was just….you turned me down when I asked you to the festival, I thought you were gonna say yes, but you walked off like that. I know why you did it and you were right, I didn't know what I was asking…" Karl might not have understood before, but he'd gained some insight into the commitment she was talking about in his alternate lifetime as a skybax rider. In that lifetime, he had shared that dedication to the island, but in this lifetime, his _real_ life, well, it was hard to admit it, but she was right. He wasn't ready to give up his hopes of getting off the island. In the back of his mind, he'd always assumed Marion would go with him when the opportunity presented itself. She'd even confessed the temptation to go once, but that had been months ago. Before the Tohma Faiere's interference, he hadn't understood the pledge he would have been making walking into that festival with Marion. "Then I saw you with David, and…" _That's right, moron, put the blame back on her and David again. _Karl was botching his apology and he knew it. _Better just keep it simple. _"I was a jerk. I'm sorry."

Marion paused, trying to find the words for what she wanted to say to him. The silence stretched into minutes before she finally sat down on the small bed opposite David's. "Karl, I know that you weren't familiar with the custom of the Dawn Festival. I wasn't trying to hurt you. When you started talking about your home, I realized----you care about me and about Dinotopia, I know you do, but you still don't think of this island as your real home, do you?" He didn't answer, which told her all she needed to know. "I'm going to be matriarch one day, Karl. As much as I would like to see your world, I may never be able to leave this island. Dinotopia _is_ my home, my obligations are here, and anyone I'm with has to be ready to make the same commitment to the island. I don't know how else to explain it. I know you're not ready for that right now, are you?"

Karl surprised himself by asking, "Was Dinotopia the only reason you hesitated?"

Marion's eyes widened at that, crimson coloring her cheeks. This time, she was at a loss for an answer…which was answer enough for him.

Finally, Karl broke the silence. He stood up. "I think I should change." At her uncomprehending frown, he indicated the skybax rider uniform he still wore. "My clothes, I mean. Can you keep an eye on David until I get back?"

"Of course." She took up the spot at the foot of the bed that Karl had just vacated.

Karl reached the door before Marion called, "Karl?"

He glanced back.

"I do love you, you know," she said.

The words sent warmth through him, despite also hearing her words from long ago in his mind: _I love you both._

"Do me a favor, Marion? Don't go to that festival too soon," he asked. Then he walked out of the guest room, closing the door behind him. "And I love you, too," he said quietly.

The crowd in Flippeau's house had thinned by the time Frank and Jack made their way back into the living room. Romana stood in one corner of the living room, not chatting with anyone, her gaze occasionally wandering to the hallway that lead to the guest room. She broke from her preoccupation long enough to give Frank a questioning glance. He offered her a nod and a smile, and she appeared greatly relieved. She briefly offered Jack a glare of pure loathing instead of the mere annoyance she'd felt with him in the alternate reality.

Rosemary, Noree, and Flippeau were in the room as well, chatting quietly. Rosemary spotted Jack and looked as though she might have summoned him. Something in Frank's face forestalled her. Through one window, Jack saw Alano talking with a pair of human guards. He was patting Pterra's neck. Jack realized the guards were probably waiting to drag him off to face the Council for punishment once Rosemary was done with him. _If Frank leaves any pieces of me to punish, that is._

Scott led the Outsider into the kitchen, where he poured a rather large drink for himself. Frank needed something alcoholic, preferably with a high proof, but he wasn't going to get it in Flippeau's house, so he settled for juice. He filled a second glass and slid it across the table to Jack. There was something comforting about the familiar gesture. Jack still had the memory of being Frank's son and stealing Frank's hooch to mix it with Coke. _No, that wasn't his memory; that was Karl and David's memory, their lives._

With regret, Jack recalled that the other times he'd shared a drink of any sort with Scott in this real timeline. Frank had been the one who boasted to Jack about his sons saving Dinotopia two times over from saurian rampages…and about other adventures his kids had shared, including using Marion's medallion to power Cyrus' submarine and rescue their father. Jack had used those tidbits of information to create this rather spectacular mess. Jack the Outsider had rationalized that Frank had dealt with his kind long enough to know better than to trust information like that to one of them.

"Is this a last drink for the condemned, Frank?" Jack finally asked.

"I really can't decide, Jack, if I should get Rosemary to let you off the hook or if I should pound you into the ground myself," Frank admitted. "Lucky for you you're just a kid. I still don't know what to do with you, so, while I'm deciding, have a drink."

There was no small truth to the statement. He was wavering between the residual paternal instinct for the kid who had---even if it was only in some sort of alternate reality of which Frank had no memories---temporarily been a Scott and the instinct he would have had under any other circumstance to make a rug out of anyone who betrayed his confidence and, worse, put his sons in jeopardy. The tavern owner was by far the most tolerant of any person on the island where the antics of the outsiders were concerned because he relied on, even enjoyed, their patronage of his pub. But, even he had lines that could not be crossed, and the biggest was drawn firmly in front of Karl and David. That was common knowledge to every Dinotopian and Outsider.

"I'm sorry, d---Frank."

"Sorry for what? For taking something I told you and using it to almost get my sons killed?"

Jack felt his face flame. "Yeah, for that. I didn't have a choice. Payden wanted the medallion."

"Have we met? If you really were part of my family in that parallel universe, then you know I don't buy that crap. You had a choice. You take responsibility for your own actions."

"It's a lot simpler for a 'topian than an outsider…"

"Bull. Do you really think Gabriel Dane was going to forgive you for whatever you did to tick him off and take you off this island if you brought him that medallion? And what were you thinking messing with Dintopian artifacts that you didn't even understand?"

"I thought he would. I sure as hell know better now."

Frank considered that. "What are you going to do now?"

"Wait for the guards to haul me off to whatever prison you 'topians have and throw myself on the mercy of the Council?" Jack offered lamely. "If I go back, Gabriel and Payden will throw _me_ into that hunter's pit." He had few friends in the pack. Dayel might have talked his father out of killing Jack for failing to deliver the medallion, but Dayel was gone. His friend's death during that hunting trip gone wrong had been inevitable in both timelines. Jack's switching back hadn't saved anyone in the pack; his presence in the pack didn't change anyone's fate. Who else might help if Dane came after him? Not Miguel or Robere, that was for sure. Paiva and Jerald might look out for him, but then again they might not.

"You could go back to your pack and take your chances," Rosemary's voice right behind Jack scared the bejeesus out of him. He hadn't heard her walk over. "Or you could stay."

"Eh?" Jack frowned.

"I know Outsiders are not fond of our ways, but the Tohma Faiere has given you the chance to see the island from a different perspective. I think we can be…forgiving…in light of that education and the good things I'm sure that you did while you were in the alternate reality. What I told you in that timeline is true---you _are_ of the Earth, even if you seem not to accept that," she teased. "That doesn't have to change now that your time under the effect of the faith stone has ended. You may keep your place at Earth Farms if you wish it. We'll be glad to have you."

"Can you really see me plowing fields and picking crops? Jack snorted. "I didn't like it when I was a 'topian. Why do you think I kept hiding in the hatchery with my radio…." At the mention of the radio, Jack recalled many days hiding from the pack, reading the song lyrics and wishing he'd heard them for real, that he knew what they sounded like. He remembered the other timeline, when he'd wished that he'd at least remember the melodies when he was an Outsider again.

He remembered. He could see every street in every city that Jack Scott had visited, and he could hear the notes of every song Jack Scott had ever heard. That fact hadn't dawned on him until just that moment. _Guess in its way the freaky rock did grant one wish._ Somehow, that was almost a consolation. Jack smiled to himself.

The Keeper saw the small smile and wondered if it was agreement to Rosemary's suggestion. "There would be one condition." Noree stepped forward. "You must accept a saurian life partner. It would be…what's the word?" She glanced at the off-worlder.

"'Probation'," Frank supplied.

"An older saurian life partner, one who would accept responsibility for your education and perhaps help you find a place among us where you will be happy."

"Not to mention safe from Dane and Payden," Frank added. Jack was not so sure there was such a thing as 'safe' from the vindictive outsiders, but didn't voice that concern. Some farm tools and a pet dinosaur wouldn't stop Dane if he decided to get Jack any more than an entire city full of saurians had deterred him from coming after David.

Noree was staring at Jack. Slowly, it dawned on him what she was _really_ suggesting. "What---you mean you? _You_ want to be my saurian life partner?"

"I've never accepted a human life partner. Humans tend to find life in the Temple rather---limited---even by Dinotopian standards. But, I think I have much more I could teach you, Jack Barrett, and much I could learn from you. Frank and Alano have agreed to help you---Alano has some understanding of the difficulties involved in breaking ties to the packs, as you know. If you were to agree to stay, I'm sure the Council would be more forgiving of the faith stone incident. I'm sure that the matriarch would help them see that a year or so on the Farms and in the Temple might present less hassle than trying to keep you under house arrest."

"I would," Rosemary confirmed.

"From thief to Sanctuary Keeper, eh?" Jack finished off his drink. "I'm sure the Council would think that's a very Dinotopian solution."

"What do _you_ think?" Frank asked.

"I think I'm going to need a much stronger drink."

David Scott woke to sunlight pouring through the windows of Flippeau's guest room…and to Karl staring, almost nose-to-nose with him, with a grin of pure evil on his face. "I cannot _believe_ you boinked Le Sage, bro. I mean, she's a babe, no question, but dude she's almost old enough to be our mom…" Karl taunted.

His brother was confused for a minute, not fully awake yet and sorting through the jumble of two lifetimes' worth of memories that were rushing back to him. His shoulder-his entire body for that matter---ached…so the whole fight with Payden Borale must have been real. And there was a horrid tattoo for a band he didn't even like on his hand. He cringed just looking at it. The whole time spent as an Outsider hadn't just been a bad dream. "Oh God, that really happened?"

"Oh trust me, the image is burned into my retinas. It's absolutely horrifying. I'm going to need therapy," Karl confirmed, enjoying his brother's embarrassment immensely. God knew Karl had been on the receiving end of David's lectures about his own 'hit and run victims' often enough. "'Course, 'real' is kind of a relative term right now." Karl sat down on the edge of the bed. "Noree says it all really happened---the stone Jack brought back from the inner island is some sort of Dinotopia teaching tool. Let's you live out an alternative life of your own design for awhile so you can basically can see how life would suck if you had everything you wished for. It's the whole Frank Capra 'Wonderful Life' thing. When the stone sets things back to normal, only the ones who had contact with the stone remember whatever happened under its spell. Which, I've figured, means that you, me, and Jack remember, since we all used the rock in the other timeline----"

David blanched. "And Le Sage." _Yes, he definitely remembered catching her messing with the stone back in her chamber._

Karl's grin returned. "You're kidding?"

_Sure, Karl could smirk…he wasn't the one Le Sage was going to kill once she figured out what had happened_. "No, I'm not kidding!" David snapped, regretting the outburst when it sent a sliver of pain through his head. He tried sitting up too quickly and grunted at the twinge from his injured shoulder. He tried a second time to move, taking it more slowly this time, but had to settle for rolling onto his non-injured side when being vertical made him too dizzy. "Ow! I thought the stone 'reset' everything?" he complained.

"Oh, that was the other thing---you remember everything you do, and you also get to keep all the physical consequences. Which means that if you get in the way of an outsider with a knife like an idiot, you get to keep the scar. I suppose that also means that you really did do the mattress mambo with Le Sage, too, and lucky me I get to have that nasty image of it for the rest of my life, since I get to keep my memory, too." Karl laughed, thinking that if David blushed any harder, he might burst into flames. "So, what was it like bagging the outsider queen?"

"I am _not_ discussing it with you," David said.

"All right, all right," Karl dropped the subject. It was no fun teasing David when he was groggy---and he had years to torment his brother about the whole affair (pardon the expression) once David was back on his feet. "Here's the bad news: Jack said that Payden tried to use the faith stone, so there's a chance that he might remember the other timeline too. And if he does, he'll probably tell Dane all about you. Seriously, what'd you do to piss off Dane so bad that he wanted to kill you?"

"We fought, he fell," David reluctantly admitted.

Karl raised an eyebrow. _And_?

"Into a hunter's pit."

"With?" Karl prompted.

"With a baby T-Rex," David added. "You saw his hand, right?"

"_You_ did that? You are _so_ going to tell me everything that happened while you were with the Outsiders. I gotta hand it to you, bro, when you go over to the Dark Side, you go all out. Why'd you try to feed him to a T-Rex? 'Alpha Male' thing?" Karl asked, impressed.

David's expression darkened. "A 'trying to make me kill Freefall' thing. I was sick of getting the crap kicked out of me every time he wanted me to kill a scalie and I said no. And then Marion came along and I was afraid Dane was going to hurt her…"

Karl sobered immediately.

"What happened to Dane and Payden, anyway?" David had a vague recollection of Payden dragging him to Gabriel's hunting grounds, but the details of what happened afterwards were fuzzy and fragmented.

"I'm not exactly sure. Depends on the whole 'physical consequences' thing I was telling you about. When we were in the other universe, Alano said Le Sage left Gabriel tied to a pier in Zuru before he came looking for you. I asked him if she untied him before the tide came in, and all he said was, 'Oops'. You don't think he was serious, do you?"

David grinned a bit. _Good old, Al…_ "Probably."

"As for the real Dane…Noree said physical consequences are only real if you use the stone, and since Dane didn't use the stone, I assume he's probably still lurking around on the island somewhere. But hey, at least, he won't remember that he wants to kill you now that the stone fixed things, since he didn't have contact with it…" Karl tried being optimistic. David was silent.

"And Payden?" David asked.

"Last I saw of him in the other timeline, he was floating down a river. I don't know what happened to him, if he had real physical consequences because he tried to use the stone or not. He might be alive and he might remember."

"Great," David muttered.

His grim expression was scaring Karl. Concerned now, he asked: "You think they'd still come after you? You didn't do anything to them in _this_ timeline except screw up some of Jack's food runs at Earth Farm."

"I doubt Payden would unless Dane asked him to. He never hunted without a good reason…at least, according to his own definition of a good reason. Gabriel Dane's another story. Never underestimate Dane's need for revenge," David advised.

"He's not stupid enough to tangle with you, me, Dad, and the entire skybax corps, is he?"

"Like I said…never underestimate Dane."

Karl shifted uncomfortably; then, he finally stood. "I should tell everyone that you're back among the living. Just to warn you, I already got my lecture, but Dad, Rosemary, and Marion have had all night and most of the morning to refine your lecture on using Dinotopian magic rocks and tangling with dangerous outsiders. They're getting pretty good at it. And Romana is planning to volunteer you for double patrol duty for the next six months for making her miss her shift today…"

He noticed that David wasn't laughing. David looked at Karl and his brow furrowed as if he'd suddenly remembered something else. He glanced at the chair in the corner of the room, noticing for the first time that his own bronze-orange skybax corps uniform had been placed there. He felt like he hadn't worn it in years. Was it only yesterday that all this began?

"What? What's wrong?" Karl wanted to know.

It had come back to David, the reason for the nagging, uncomfortable feeling he'd had since waking. The cause of the strange feeling returned to him: the entire argument between him and Karl right before the faith stone sent them into an alternate reality, their being at each other's throats (again) over Marion and over David sponsoring Alano into the skybax corps, the escalating tension between the two of them over the past few months...

"Karl, you know, if you're really serious about wanting to train for the corps…"

"Are you saying you were lying about not wanting me to join because I'm not 'committed' enough?" Karl grinned.

"Absolutely not."

Karl waved a hand, dismissing the notion. "Well, bro, as it turns out, it isn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean, sure, I look way better than you in the uniform and it's really cool flying around and all, but, you know, it takes forever to oil a pterosaur's hide and you can never get the smell of dinosaur out of your uniform…and have you ever tried curbing a two ton bird in the city? You need a pooper-scooper the size of a Volkswagon. I don't know why you think all that is fun…" He didn't quite sound convincing.

"If you change your mind…" David offered.

"I won't. My days as a Dino-Scout are over. But, thanks."

David could sense there was more coming.

"Listen, bro…" Karl was having a hard time figuring out precisely what he wanted to say. "…and don't interrupt me, 'cause I'm not going to be able to say this again. I've been thinking about it a little---since I had some time because my idiot brother got himself stabbed by a psycho outsider and kept me awake all night worrying---thing is, I'm never going to be okay with sharing Marion. But, that faith stone kind of reminded me how much you and I used to fight before we came to this island. I think it was just growing up in different houses, sometimes in different cities, and only seeing each other on weekends or whenever Dad took us on one of his adventures or when our moms packed us off to camp somewhere, we never really had anything in common. I thought you were a geek, you thought I was a moron. We still fight here, but at least we've started becoming friends. I didn't realize it until I got stuck in the other timeline with that nitwit Barrett for a brother, but if I get everything I want on this island and lose that, the price is too high. And if you tell anyone I said that, I'm dragging you into that boxing ring and kicking your butt."

David had an admission of his own to share. "Marion didn't ask me to the festival either…" David told Karl. When his brother opened his mouth, David added: "…and it's still none of your business what we _were_ doing, so don't ask me."

Karl leaned against the door, not smiling but looking appreciative at least. "Thanks for telling me." Then he shocked the hell out of David by suddenly walking back long enough to pull his brother into a one-armed hug. "I'm glad you're back, bro."

"Yeah, so I am, bro." It was time to ask the question that most concerned David. "So…we're all right then? We're not going to zap each other into some alternate reality with a space rock again?"

Karl shrugged, retreating to the door again. "Welllll, that depends…you planning on kissing my girlfriend again?" The tone was light, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"She is _not_ your gir…"

Karl ignored that. "'Cause, you know, now that you have this whole relationship with Le Sage, she'll get all jealous of Marion, and then things would _really_ get ugly---"

David moved faster than Karl would have thought possible with that bum shoulder. His brother hurled a throw pillow at him so fast that Karl didn't have time to duck before it bounced off his arm. "You! _Out_!" David pointed to the door, working hard to hide his own grin. Karl dove behind the open door to avoid a second pillow sent flying his way.

Yes, they were going to be all right.

Karl took the opportunity to make his escape. Frank passed him on his way to the guest room. "Do I even want to know what he's laughing at?" he asked David.

"Trust me, you don't." David leaned back against the pillows. He had a dim recollection of waking during the previous night and seeing his father in that chair, watching but not sleeping, and the impression that Karl and Marion had been there several times, too. However, he had the feeling he was forgetting someone…and finally, it hit him: "What happened to Jack?" he asked Frank.

"I think right now Noree's trying to teach him Dinotopian law and footprint language. She's going to have her hands full. Karl, of course, had to show him how to hide magazines in his school books, so it could take a while…" Frank shook his head at the image.

"He didn't go back to the pack then?" David was relieved to hear it. He'd thought Le Sage's gang was bad, but she had nothing on Dane and Borale. That group was no place for a kid.

Frank took a seat on the chair beside the bed. "So, how ya feeling, kid?"

David winced. His shoulder was killing him and he had a head full of memories from two different lifetimes that he'd probably be spending months trying to sort out. "I don't think they've created a word that covers it." David noticed his father looked about as bad as he felt. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and weariness in the way he was sitting on the chair. Probably hadn't slept all night…had it just been one night? David didn't know for sure how long he'd been out. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Whatever had transpired to cause that Outsider to use a dagger on Frank's child, the off-worlder was grateful that he had no memory of it. If he ever laid eyes on the real Payden Borale, Frank was going to have a hard time reminding himself that it was the _other_ Payden who had tried to kill his boys. Semantics didn't mean anything to Frank where protecting his sons was concerned.

David closed his eyes for a few seconds, and Frank wondered if he'd drifted off again. "You should rest. I'll come back---"

He stood, but David opened his eyes. "No, wait a second," he said. Frank sat back down and waited. The kid looked like he wanted to say something else but wasn't really sure how to say it. Finally, David took a shot at saying what was on his mind: "Listen, Dad…I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately. I was…I just didn't want to fight about the mission anymore."

He'd thought Frank had made his peace with David staying the Skybax Corps, since his father hadn't offered any more protests about it following the second sunstone failure. The idea of David being gone for weeks at a time on the expedition to the inner island, and the dangers that presented, had set off Frank and David's arguments again, sparked them to new heights. The Corps, the mission, having the moral leg against his father, it had all seemed important before this whole business with the Tohma Faiere. He'd felt more at home among the other riders than in the tavern with his own family. But, after months—real or hallucination---of being alone with the pack, who didn't care if he lived or died, David was glad to have a family to drive him to distraction arguing when he took risks like that again.

He just didn't know how to put that into words. Not yet, anyway.

Frank considered that for a long while. "You probably think I don't have much room to point fingers about sticking around. We haven't talked about this much, but…I wish I had the first few years after you were born to do over again. When you were born, I was young and I didn't take responsibility and commitment as seriously as I should have. By the time I got my head screwed on straight, I had two boys with two ex-wives on opposite sides of the country and a job that took me all over the world and barely left me time for either one of you. I'm sorry about that."

"Did I ever tell you that the first weekend your mother left you with me, you had your first bad asthma attack?" Frank asked.

"No, you didn't." David didn't remember that at all. He'd only been three years old at the time. All he remembered was an apartment door and a smelly hallway.

"I didn't listen to your mother about your food allergies. Then you got a fever and then---well, for a while at the hospital that night, I just didn't know what was going to happen. It scared the hell out of me that a stupid, irresponsible thing like putting the wrong ingredients in dinner could kill my son. I hope neither of you boys ever has a moment in your lives where you have to wonder if you're going to outlive your own children. I've tried to keep you and your brother safe since then---but here we are at the least safe place to live on the planet, and here you are with the least safe job on the island. That's the reason I had such a problem with the Corps, David. I'll probably never be okay with you taking chances like that, but I know it's important to you."

David wished he'd known that before…but then, he supposed he hadn't been around enough to give Frank much time to explain. "You want to give me another shot at being around?" he asked with a grin.

"You want to give the old man one more shot at getting the supportive parent thing right?" Frank countered.

"How about we talk about it over a game of cards?"

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you play cards? No wait, let me guess---'long story'?"

Karl interrupted, poking his head in the doorway. "By the way, bro---" He couldn't resist adding as a parting shot, "this whole 'real physical consequence' thing begs one question, especially since Le Sage messed with the stone and might be part of the physical consequence thing: You _did_ practice safe sex and all that while you were in your whole 'Evil Dave' parallel universe, right? 'Cause we really don't need any little Le Sages running around the house…"

He was rewarded when David's face became a mask of dawning horror. "Oh God…"

Karl snickered all the way back to the living room.

Frank frowned at that, looking at David for an explanation. "'Safe sex'?"

David picked up a pillow and used it to cover his face so his father couldn't see his face burning and vowed that, just as soon as he was on his feet again, Karl was definitely going to pay for that one….

- Fin -


End file.
